View source for Central Asia

{{Short description|Subregion of the Asian continent}}
{{Distinguish|Soviet Central Asia}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox continent
| title = Central Asia
| image = Central Asia (orthographic projection).svg
| area = {{convert|400,3451|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}
| population = 75,897,577 (2021) ([[List of continents by population#Regional and continental (sub)totals in 2016|16th]])<ref name="UN WPP 2019">{{Cite web|title=World Population prospects – Population division|url=https://population.un.org/wpp/|access-date=16 July 2019|publisher=[[United Nations]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205234912/https://population.un.org/wpp/|archive-date=5 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="UN WPP 2019 2">{{Cite web|title=Overall total population|url=https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/1_Population/WPP2019_POP_F01_1_TOTAL_POPULATION_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx|format=xlsx|access-date=16 July 2019|publisher=[[United Nations]]|archive-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218054922/https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/1_Population/WPP2019_POP_F01_1_TOTAL_POPULATION_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx|url-status=live}}</ref>
| density = {{convert|17.43|/km2|/sqmi|abbr=on}}
| GDP_nominal = $446 billion (2023)<ref name="IMF">{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April|title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2023|publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]]}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP = $1.25 trillion (2023)<ref name="IMF" />
| GDP_per_capita = $5,900 (2023; nominal)<ref name="IMF" /><br />$16,400 (2023; PPP)<ref name="IMF" />
| HDI = {{increase}}0.779 (''<span style="color:green">high</span>'')
| demonym = Central Asian
| countries = {{collapsible list
| title = [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia|5 recognized]]
| {{flag|Kazakhstan}}
| {{flag|Kyrgyzstan}}
| {{flag|Tajikistan}}
| {{flag|Turkmenistan}}
| {{flag|Uzbekistan}}
}}
| languages = [[Dungan language|Dungan]], [[Karakalpak language|Karakalpak]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Koryo-mar]], [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]], [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Tajik language|Tajik]], [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], and [[#Languages|others]]
| time = {{collapsible list
 | title = 2 time zones
 | bullets = true
 | '''[[UTC+05:00]]''':
 {{hlist
 | Standard: [[Time in Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan]], [[Time in Tajikistan|Tajikistan]], [[Time in Turkmenistan|Turkmenistan]], [[Time in Uzbekistan|Uzbekistan]]
 }}
 | '''[[UTC+06:00]]''':
 {{hlist
| Standard: [[Kyrgyzstan Time|Kyrgyzstan]]
 }}
 }}
| internet = [[.kg]], [[.kz]], [[.tj]], [[.tm]], [[.uz]]
| calling_code = [[List of country calling codes|Zone 9 except Kazakhstan (Zone 7)]]
| cities =
{{collapsible list
 | title = List{{sup|a}}
 | bullets = true
 | {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}}
[[Aktöbe]]
 | {{flagicon|Uzbekistan}}
[[Andijan]]
 | {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} [[Almaty]]
 | {{flagicon|Turkmenistan}} [[Ashgabat]]
 | {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} [[Astana]]
 | {{flagicon|Kyrgyzstan}} [[Bishkek]]
 | {{flagicon|Tajikistan}} [[Dushanbe]]
 | {{flagicon|Uzbekistan}} [[Fergana]]
 | {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} [[Karagandy]]
 | {{flagicon|Uzbekistan}} [[Namangan]]
 | {{flagicon|Uzbekistan}} [[Samarkand]]
 | {{flagicon|Kazakhstan}} [[Shymkent]]
 | {{flagicon|Uzbekistan}} [[Tashkent]]
}}
| m49 = {{ubl
 | <code>143</code> – Central Asia
 | <code>142</code> – [[Asia]]
 | <code>001</code> – [[World]]
}}}}
'''Central Asia''' is a region of [[Asia]] consisting of [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], and [[Uzbekistan]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Central Asia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Central-Asia|access-date=21 January 2022|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107103023/https://www.britannica.com/place/Central-Asia|url-status=live}}</ref> The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the [[Persian language|Persian]] suffix "[[-stan]]" (meaning {{gloss|land}}) in both respective native languages and most other languages. The region is bounded by the [[Caspian Sea]] to the southwest, [[European Russia]] to the northwest, [[China]] and [[Mongolia]] to the east,<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Mongolia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Mongolia|access-date=21 January 2022|archive-date=8 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608083309/https://www.britannica.com/place/Mongolia|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iran]] to the south, and [[Siberia]] to the north. Together, the five Central Asian countries have a total population of around {{formatnum: {{#expr: {{formatnum: ({{UN Population|Kazakhstan}} + {{UN Population|Kyrgyzstan}} + {{UN Population|Tajikistan}} + {{UN Population|Turkmenistan}} + {{UN Population|Uzbekistan}}) / 1e6 round 0 |R}} }} }} million.

In the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras ({{c.|1000}} and earlier) Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by [[Iranian peoples]],<ref name="Bosworth-1990">{{Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=Bosworth|first=C. E.|author-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|title=CENTRAL ASIA iv. In the Islamic Period up to the Mongols|volume=5|fascicle=2|pages=169–172|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/central-asia-iv|quote=In early Islamic times Persians tended to identify all the lands to the northeast of Khorasan and lying beyond the Oxus with the region of Turan, which in the Šāh-nāma of Ferdowsī is regarded as the land allotted to Ferēdūn's son Tūr. The denizens of Tūrān were held to include the Turks, in the first four centuries of Islam essentially those nomadizing beyond the Jaxartes, and behind them the Chinese (see Kowalski; Minorsky, "Tūrān"). Tūrān thus became both an ethnic and a geographical term, but always containing ambiguities and contradictions, arising from the fact that all through Islamic times the lands immediately beyond the Oxus and along its lower reaches were the homes not of Turks but of Iranian peoples, such as the Sogdians and Khwarezmians.}}</ref><ref>C. E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in ''History of Civilizations of Central Asia'', Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: Motilal Banarsidass Publ./UNESCO Publishing, 1999. excerpt from page 23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages.".</ref> populated by [[Eastern Iranian]]-speaking [[Bactrians]], [[Sogdians]], [[Khwarezmian language|Chorasmians]], and the semi-nomadic [[Scythians]] and [[Dahae]]. As the result of [[Turkic migration]], Central Asia also became the homeland for the [[Kazakhs]], [[Kyrgyzs]], [[Volga Tatars|Tatars]], [[Turkmens]], [[Uyghurs]], and [[Uzbeks]]; [[Turkic languages]] largely replaced the Iranian languages spoken in the area, with the exception of Tajikistan and areas where [[Tajik language|Tajik]] is spoken.

The [[Silk Road]] trade routes crossed through Central Asia, leading to the rise of prosperous trade cities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Great Silk Roads|url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/great-silk-roads|access-date=16 May 2024|website=Silk Roads Programme|publisher=UNESCO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Taseer|first=Aatish|date=11 May 2020|title=In Uzbekistan, Coming to Terms With the Country's Dazzling History|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/t-magazine/uzbekistan-history-silk-road.html|access-date=16 May 2024|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> acting as a crossroads for the movement of people, goods, and ideas between Europe and the [[Far East]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml|title=Travelers on the Silk Road|author=Adela C. Y. Lee|access-date=14 November 2014|archive-date=25 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525113916/http://www.silk-road.com/artl/srtravelmain.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Ta'lim Primary 6 Parent and Teacher Guide (p.{{spaces}}72) – Islamic Publications Limited for the Institute of Ismaili Studies London</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|year=2013|last1=Phillips|first1=Andrew|last2=James|first2=Paul|author-link2=Paul James (academic)|title=National Identity between Tradition and Reflexive Modernisation: The Contradictions of Central Asia|url=https://www.academia.edu/2832538|journal=National Identities|volume=3|issue=1|pages=23–35|quote=In Central Asia the collision of modernity and tradition led all but the most deracinated of the intellectuals-[[cleric]]s to seek salvation in reconstituted variants of traditional identities rather than succumb to the modern European idea of nationalism. The inability of the elites to form a united front, as demonstrated in the numerous declarations of autonomy by different authorities during the Russian civil war, paved the way, in the early 1920s for the Soviet re-conquest of the Central Asia in the early 1920s.|doi=10.1080/14608940020028475|s2cid=146570543|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=7 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107161541/https://www.academia.edu/2832538|url-status=live}}</ref> Most countries in Central Asia are still integral to parts of the world economy.<ref name="Frankopan-2017">{{Cite book|last=Frankopan|first=Peter|title=The Silk Roads: A New History of the World|date=March 2017|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|isbn=978-1-101-94633-6|edition=First Vintage Books|location=New York|pages=xv-xvi|author-link=Peter Frankopan}}</ref>

From the mid-19th century until near the end of the 20th century, Central Asia was incorporated into the [[Russian Empire]], and later the [[Soviet Union]], which led to Russians and other [[Slavs]] colonising the area. Modern-day Central Asia is home to a large population of descendants of [[European emigration|European settlers]], who mostly live in Kazakhstan: 7 million Russians, 500,000 [[Ukrainians]],<ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316172713/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php |date=16 March 2010 }}. Demoscope.ru. Retrieved on 29 July 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/din.files/census/5010003.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206105009/http://www.stat.kg/stat.files/din.files/census/5010003.pdf|archive-date=6 February 2009|title=5.01.00.03 Национальный состав населения}}</ref><ref>[http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2005/0191/analit05.php Итоги переписи населения Таджикистана 2000 года: национальный, возрастной, половой, семейный и образовательный составы] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807010258/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2005/0191/analit05.php |date=7 August 2011 }}. Demoscope.ru (20 January 2000). Retrieved on 29 July 2013.</ref> and about 170,000 [[History of Germans in Russia, Ukraine and the Soviet Union|Germans]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Trochev|first=Alexei|title=Transitional Justice Attempts in Kazakhstan|date=22 February 2018|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781108182171%23CN-bp-4/type/book_part|work=Transitional Justice and the Former Soviet Union|pages=88–108|editor-last=Horne|editor-first=Cynthia M.|edition=1|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/9781108182171.005|isbn=978-1-108-18217-1|access-date=4 December 2020|editor2-last=Stan|editor2-first=Lavinia|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131024/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/transitional-justice-and-the-former-soviet-union/transitional-justice-attempts-in-kazakhstan/B4A2EAEAE2948E13C043D0071FED7A84|url-status=live}}</ref> During the Stalinist period, the forced [[deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union]] resulted in a population of over 300,000 [[Koryo-saram|Koreans]] in the region.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Central Asia's Koreans in Korea: There and (Mostly) Back Again|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/central-asias-koreans-in-korea-there-and-mostly-back-again/|access-date=12 August 2021|website=openDemocracy|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109105937/https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/central-asias-koreans-in-korea-there-and-mostly-back-again/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Definitions ==
{{See also|Greater Central Asia}}{{Multiple image
| image1=Caucasus central asia political map 2000.jpg
| caption1=Political map of Central Asia and the [[Caucasus]] (2000)
| image2=Map of Central Asia.png
| caption2=Political map of Central Asia including Afghanistan
}}

One of the first geographers to mention Central Asia as a distinct region of the world was [[Alexander von Humboldt]]. The borders of Central Asia are subject to multiple definitions. Historically, political geography and culture have been two significant parameters widely used in scholarly definitions of Central Asia. Humboldt's definition comprised every country between 5° North and 5° South of the latitude 44.5°N.{{clarify|date=October 2024}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dani|first1=A. H.|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 B.C.|date=1993|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-102719-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lPzhfNRZ9IC&q=Afghanistan+humboldt+central+asia&pg=PA477|language=en|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131049/https://books.google.com/books?id=6lPzhfNRZ9IC&q=Afghanistan+humboldt+central+asia&pg=PA477|url-status=live}}</ref> Humboldt mentions some geographic features of this region, which include the Caspian Sea in the west, the Altai mountains in the north and the Hindu Kush and Pamir mountains in the South.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Humboldt|first1=Alexander von|title=Asie centrale|date=1843|publisher=Paris, Gide|page=17|language=fr|url=https://archive.org/details/asiecentralerec03humbgoog}}</ref> He did not give an eastern border for the region. His legacy is still seen: [[Humboldt University of Berlin]], named after him, offers a course in [[Central Asian studies]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Humboldt University of Berlin|title=Central Asian studies – Institute of Asian and African Studies|url=https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/en/region/centralasia/central-asian-seminar-1/about-us/about-us|website=www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de|publisher=Humboldt University of Berlin|language=en|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727184251/https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/en/region/centralasia/central-asian-seminar-1/about-us/about-us|url-status=live}}</ref> The Russian geographer Nikolaĭ Khanykov questioned the latitudinal definition of Central Asia and preferred a physical one of all countries located in the region landlocked from water, including [[Afghanistan]], [[Khorasan province|Khorasan]] (Northeast Iran), [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[East Turkestan]] (Xinjiang), [[Mongolia]], and [[Uzbekistan]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cummings|first1=Sally N.|title=Understanding Central Asia: Politics and Contested Transformations|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-43319-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRafuiRUJaMC&q=humboldt+central+asia+definition&pg=PT28|language=en|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131019/https://books.google.com/books?id=SRafuiRUJaMC&q=humboldt+central+asia+definition&pg=PT28|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Saez|first1=Lawrence|title=The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC): An emerging collaboration architecture|date=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-67108-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTzKWI42uR4C&q=humboldt+central+asia+Afghanistan&pg=PA35|language=en|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131049/https://books.google.com/books?id=yTzKWI42uR4C&q=humboldt+central+asia+Afghanistan&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Cornell|first1=Svante E.|title=Modernization and Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: A New Spring?|publisher=Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies|url=http://silkroadstudies.org/resources/1811CA-Regional.pdf|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-date=8 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108072230/http://silkroadstudies.org/resources/1811CA-Regional.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Central Asia definitions (orthographic).png|thumb|upright=1.2|Expanded definition of Central Asia. Core definition that includes the five post-Soviet states in dark green. [[Afghanistan]], the most commonly added country to Central Asia, in green. Regions that are sometimes considered part of Central Asia in light green.]]
[[File:Central Asia borders4.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Three sets of possible boundaries for the Central Asia region (which overlap with conceptions of South and East Asia).]]

[[Russian culture]] has two distinct terms: ''Средняя Азия'' (''Srednyaya Aziya'' or "Middle Asia", the narrower definition, which includes only those traditionally non-Slavic, Central Asian lands that were incorporated within those borders of historical Russia) and ''Центральная Азия'' (''Tsentralnaya Aziya'' or "Central Asia", the wider definition, which includes Central Asian lands that have never been part of historical Russia). The latter definition includes Afghanistan and '[[East Turkestan]]'.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cornell|first1=Svante E.|title=Modernization and Regional Cooperation in Central Asia: A New Spring?|quote=Russian scholars who used the term 'Middle Asia' synonymously with Turkestan used 'Central Asia' largely to refer to areas outside Russian control, including Afghanistan and 'East Turkestan'.|publisher=Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies|url=http://silkroadstudies.org/resources/1811CA-Regional.pdf|access-date=1 April 2020|archive-date=8 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108072230/http://silkroadstudies.org/resources/1811CA-Regional.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The most limited definition was the official one of the [[Soviet Union]], which defined Middle Asia as consisting solely of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, omitting [[Kazakhstan]]. Soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the leaders of the four former [[Soviet Central Asia]]n Republics met in [[Tashkent]] and declared that the definition of Central Asia should include Kazakhstan as well as the original four included by the Soviets. Since then, this has become the most common definition of Central Asia.

In 1978, [[UNESCO]] defined the region as "Afghanistan, north-eastern [[Iran]], [[Pakistan]], [[northern India]], western China, Mongolia and the Soviet Central Asian Republics".<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Mayor|first1=Federico|author-link1=Federico Mayor Zaragoza|editor-last1=Dani|editor-first1=A. H.|editor-link1=Ahmad Hasan Dani|editor-last2=Masson|editor-first2=V. M.|year=1992|chapter=Preface|title=The Dawn of Civilization, Earliest Times to 700 B.C.|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000094466|series=History of Civilizations of Central Asia|volume=1|publication-place=Paris|publisher=UNESCO Publishing|pages=7–9|isbn=978-92-3-102719-2|oclc=28186754|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104104024/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000094466?|archive-date=4 November 2022|quote=Subsequently, at a UNESCO meeting held in 1978, it was agreed that the study on Central Asia should deal with the civilizations of Afghanistan, north-eastern Iran, Pakistan, northern India, western China, Mongolia and the Soviet Central Asian Republics.|quote-page=8|access-date=21 October 2023}}</ref>

An alternative method is to define the region based on ethnicity, and in particular, areas populated by Eastern [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], Eastern [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]], or [[Mongolic peoples|Mongolian]] peoples. These areas include Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the Turkic regions of southern [[Siberia]], the five republics, and [[Afghan Turkestan]]. Afghanistan as a whole, the northern and western areas of Pakistan and the [[Kashmir Valley]] of India may also be included. The [[Tibetans]] and [[Ladakh]]is are also included. Most of the mentioned peoples are considered the "indigenous" peoples of the vast region. Central Asia is sometimes referred to as [[Turkestan]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Polo|first1=Marco|last2=Smethurst|first2=Paul|title=The Travels of Marco Polo|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7607-6589-0|page=676|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books}}</ref><ref>Ferrand, Gabriel (1913), "Ibn Batūtā", Relations de voyages et textes géographiques arabes, persans et turks relatifs à l'Extrème-Orient du 8e au 18e siècles (Volumes 1 and 2) (in French), Paris: Ernest Laroux, pp. 426–458</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Andrea|first1=Bernadette|title=Ibn Fadlan's Journey to Russia: A Tenth-Century Traveler from Baghdad to the Volga River by Richard N. Frye: Review by Bernadette Andrea|journal=Middle East Studies Association Bulletin|volume=41|issue=2|pages=201–202|doi=10.1017/S0026318400050744|s2cid=164228130}}</ref>

== Geography ==
[[File: Bringing the sheep home, on the southern shore of Issy-Kol. (3968109583).jpg|thumb|On the south shore of Issyk Kul lake, [[Issyk Kul Region]]]]
Central Asia is a region of varied geography, including high passes and [[mountain ranges|mountains]] ([[Tian Shan]]), vast [[desert]]s ([[Kyzyl Kum]], [[Taklamakan]]), and especially treeless, grassy [[steppe]]s. The vast steppe areas of Central Asia are considered together with the steppes of [[Eastern Europe]] as a homogeneous geographical zone known as the [[Eurasian Steppe]].

Much of the land of Central Asia is too dry or too rugged for farming. The [[Gobi Desert]] extends from the foot of the [[Pamirs]], 77°{{spaces}}E, to the [[Great Khingan]] (Da Hinggan) Mountains, 116°–118°{{spaces}}E.
[[File:Kazakhstan steppe Zhambyl Province (8).jpg|thumb|The [[Eurasian Steppe]] in Kazakhstan has a [[semi-arid]], [[Continentality|continental]] climate]]
Central Asia has the following geographic extremes:
* The world's northernmost [[desert]] ([[sand dunes]]), at Buurug Deliin Els, [[Mongolia]], 50°18'{{spaces}}N.
* The [[Northern Hemisphere]]'s southernmost [[permafrost]], at [[Erdenetsogt]] sum, [[Mongolia]], 46°17'{{spaces}}N.
* The world's shortest distance between non-frozen [[desert]] and [[permafrost]]: {{convert|770|km|mi|abbr=on}}.
* The Eurasian [[pole of inaccessibility]].

A majority of the people earn a living by herding livestock. Industrial activity centers in the region's cities.

Major rivers of the region include the [[Amu Darya]], the [[Syr Darya]], [[Irtysh]], the [[Hari River, Afghanistan|Hari River]] and the [[Murghab River]]. Major bodies of water include the [[Aral Sea]] and [[Lake Balkhash]], both of which are part of the huge west-central Asian [[endorheic]] basin that also includes the [[Caspian Sea]].

Both of these bodies of water have shrunk significantly in recent decades due to the diversion of water from rivers that feed them for irrigation and industrial purposes. Water is an extremely valuable resource in arid Central Asia and can lead to rather significant international disputes.

{{wide image|Zentralasien topo.png|750px|Topographic map of Central Asia.}}
{{Clear}}

== Historical regions ==
{{Location map+ | Kazakhstan
| AlternativeMap = Relief Map of Kazakhstan.png
| width = 300
| caption = Historical regions of Central Asia<br />
on a map of Kazakhstan
| places =
{{Location map~|Kazakhstan|lat=42.00|long=60.00|label=Khwarezm|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Kazakhstan|lat=40.30|long=73.37|label=Ferghana|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Kazakhstan|lat=44.00|long=76.95|label=Zhetysu|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Kazakhstan|lat=45.00|long=85.00|label=Dzun-<br />garia|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Kazakhstan|lat=40.30|long=84.00|label=Tarim_Basin|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
}}
{{Location map+ | Uzbekistan
| AlternativeMap = Relief Map of Uzbekistan.png
| width = 300
| float=right
| caption = Historical Regions of Central Asia<br />on a map of Uzbekistan
| places =
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=42.00|long=60.00|label=Khwarezm|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=40.00|long=72.00|label=Ferghana|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=39.50|long=65.00|label=Transoxiana|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=39.00|long=65.00|label=(Sogdia)|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=43.00|long=72.00|label=Zhetysu|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=37.50|long=70.00|label=Bactria|position=bottom|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
{{Location map~|Uzbekistan|lat=37.00|long=61.90|label=Margiana|position=top|mark=Clear pog.svg}}
}}

{{Location map+ | Uzbekistan
| AlternativeMap = Relief Map of Uzbekistan.png
| width = 300
| caption = Historic cities of Central Asia<br />Kokand is one of the many towns that rose and fell in the Ferghana Valley
| places =
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=39.70|long=66.98|label=Samarkand|position=top|mark=Dot-yellow.svg}}
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=39.77|long=64.33|label=Bukhara|position=left|mark=Dot-yellow.svg}}
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=41.38|long=60.22|label=Khiva|position=top}}
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=40.53|long=70.93|label=Kokand|position=right}}
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=41.27|long=69.22|label=Tashkent|position=top|mark=Dot-yellow.svg}}
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=37.66|long=62.19|label=Merv}}
{{Location map~ | Uzbekistan|lat=36.8|long=66.87|label=Balkh}}
}}

Central Asia is bounded on the north by the forests of Siberia. The northern half of Central Asia (Kazakhstan) is the middle part of the [[Eurasian steppe]]. Westward the Kazakh steppe merges into the Russian-Ukrainian steppe and eastward into the steppes and deserts of Dzungaria and Mongolia. Southward the land becomes increasingly dry and the nomadic population increasingly thin. The south supports areas of dense population and cities wherever irrigation is possible. The main irrigated areas are along the eastern mountains, along the [[Oxus]] and [[Jaxartes]] Rivers and along the north flank of the [[Kopet Dagh]] near the Persian border. East of the Kopet Dagh is the important oasis of [[Merv]] and then a few places in Afghanistan like [[Herat]] and [[Balkh]]. Two projections of the [[Tian Shan]] create three "bays" along the eastern mountains. The largest, in the north, is eastern Kazakhstan, traditionally called [[Jetysu]] or Semirechye which contains [[Lake Balkhash]]. In the center is the small but densely populated [[Ferghana valley]]. In the south is [[Bactria]], later called Tocharistan, which is bounded on the south by the [[Hindu Kush]] mountains of Afghanistan. The [[Syr Darya]] (Jaxartes) rises in the Ferghana valley and the [[Amu Darya]] (Oxus) rises in Bactria. Both flow northwest into the [[Aral Sea]]. Where the Oxus meets the Aral Sea it forms a large delta called [[Khwarazm]] and later the [[Khanate of Khiva]]. North of the Oxus is the less-famous but equally important [[Zarafshan River]] which waters the great trading cities of [[Bokhara]] and [[Samarkand]]. The other great commercial city was [[Tashkent]] northwest of the mouth of the Ferghana valley. The land immediately north of the Oxus was called [[Transoxiana]] and also [[Sogdia]], especially when referring to the Sogdian merchants who dominated the silk road trade.

To the east, Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin were united into the Manchu-Chinese province of [[Xinjiang]] (Sinkiang; Hsin-kiang) about 1759. Caravans from China usually went along the north or south side of the Tarim basin and joined at [[Kashgar]] before crossing the mountains northwest to Ferghana or southwest to Bactria. A minor branch of the silk road went north of the Tian Shan through Dzungaria and Zhetysu before turning southwest near Tashkent. Nomadic migrations usually moved from Mongolia through Dzungaria before turning southwest to conquer the settled lands or continuing west toward Europe.

The [[Kyzyl Kum]] Desert or semi-desert is between the Oxus and Jaxartes, and the [[Karakum Desert]] is between the Oxus and [[Kopet Dagh]] in Turkmenistan. [[Khorasan]] meant approximately northeast Persia and northern Afghanistan. [[Margiana]] was the region around Merv. The [[Ustyurt Plateau]] is between the Aral and Caspian Seas.

To the southwest, across the Kopet Dagh, lies Persia. From here Persian and Islamic civilisation penetrated Central Asia and dominated its high culture until the Russian conquest. In the southeast is the route to India. In early times Buddhism spread north and throughout much of history warrior kings and tribes would move southeast to establish their rule in northern India. Most nomadic conquerors entered from the northeast. After 1800 western civilisation in its Russian and Soviet form penetrated from the northwest.

;Names of historical regions
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Ariana]]
* [[Bactria]]
* [[Dahae|Dahistan]]
* [[Khorasan]]
* [[Khwarazm]]
* [[Margiana]]
* [[Parthia]]
* [[Sogdia]]
* [[Tokharistan]]
* [[Transoxiana]]
* [[Turan]]
* [[Turkestan]]
{{Div col end}}
{{Clear}}

== Climate ==
[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map v2 Central Asia 1991–2020.svg|alt=Köppen–Geiger climate classification map at 1-km resolution for Central Asia (1991–2020)|thumb|300x300px|Köppen–Geiger climate classification map at 1-km resolution for Central Asia (1991–2020)]]
Because Central Asia is landlocked and not buffered by a large body of water, temperature fluctuations are often severe, excluding the hot, sunny summer months. In most areas, the climate is dry and continental, with hot summers and cool to cold winters, with occasional snowfall. Outside high-elevation areas, the climate is mostly semi-arid to arid. In lower elevations, summers are hot with blazing sunshine. Winters feature occasional rain or snow from low-pressure systems that cross the area from the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. Average monthly precipitation is very low from July to September, rises in autumn (October and November) and is highest in March or April, followed by swift drying in May and June. Winds can be strong, producing dust storms sometimes, especially toward the end of the summer in September and October. Specific cities that exemplify Central Asian climate patterns include [[Tashkent]] and [[Samarkand]], Uzbekistan, [[Ashgabat]], Turkmenistan, and [[Dushanbe]], Tajikistan. The last of these represents one of the wettest climates in Central Asia, with an average annual precipitation of over {{convert|22|in|mm|order=flip|abbr=in}}.

Biogeographically, Central Asia is part of the [[Palearctic realm]]. The largest [[biome]] in Central Asia is the [[temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands]] biome. Central Asia also contains the [[montane grasslands and shrublands]], [[deserts and xeric shrublands]] and [[temperate coniferous forests]] biomes.

=== Climate change ===
{{Main|Climate change in Asia}}
[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map Central Asia future.svg|thumb|2071–2100 Central Asia map under [[Representative Concentration Pathway|the worst climate change scenario]]. Mid-range scenarios are currently considered more likely<ref name="HausfatherPeters2020">{{cite journal|last1=Hausfather|first1=Zeke|last2=Peters|first2=Glen|title=Emissions – the 'business as usual' story is misleading|journal=Nature|date=29 January 2020|volume=577|issue=7792|pages=618–20|doi=10.1038/d41586-020-00177-3|pmid=31996825|bibcode=2020Natur.577..618H|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Schuur2022">{{Cite journal|last1=Schuur|first1=Edward A.G.|last2=Abbott|first2=Benjamin W.|last3=Commane|first3=Roisin|last4=Ernakovich|first4=Jessica|last5=Euskirchen|first5=Eugenie|last6=Hugelius|first6=Gustaf|last7=Grosse|first7=Guido|last8=Jones|first8=Miriam|last9=Koven|first9=Charlie |last10=Leshyk |first10=Victor|last11=Lawrence|first11=David|last12=Loranty|first12=Michael M.|last13=Mauritz|first13=Marguerite|last14=Olefeldt|first14=David|last15=Natali|first15=Susan|last16=Rodenhizer|first16=Heidi|last17=Salmon|first17=Verity|last18=Schädel|first18=Christina|last19=Strauss|first19=Jens |last20=Treat |first20=Claire|last21=Turetsky|first21=Merritt|year=2022|title=Permafrost and Climate Change: Carbon Cycle Feedbacks From the Warming Arctic|journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources|volume=47|pages=343–371|doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011847|quote="Medium-range estimates of Arctic carbon emissions could result from moderate climate emission mitigation policies that keep global warming below 3°C (e.g., RCP4.5). This global warming level most closely matches country emissions reduction pledges made for the Paris Climate Agreement..."|doi-access=free|bibcode=2022ARER...47..343S}}</ref><ref name="Phiddian2022">{{Cite web|last=Phiddian|first=Ellen|date=5 April 2022|title=Explainer: IPCC Scenarios|url=https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/explainer-ipcc-scenarios/|website=[[Cosmos (magazine)|Cosmos]]|access-date=30 September 2023|quote="The IPCC doesn't make projections about which of these scenarios is more likely, but other researchers and modellers can. [[The Australian Academy of Science]], for instance, released a report last year stating that our current emissions trajectory had us headed for a 3°C warmer world, roughly in line with the middle scenario. [[Climate Action Tracker]] predicts 2.5 to 2.9°C of warming based on current policies and action, with pledges and government agreements taking this to 2.1°C.|archive-date=20 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920224129/https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/explainer-ipcc-scenarios/|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
As of 2022, there has been a scarcity of research on climate impacts in Central Asia, even though it experiences faster warming than the global average and is generally considered to be one of the more [[climate change vulnerability|climate-vulnerable]] regions in the world.<ref name="Vakulchuk-2022">{{Cite journal|last1=Vakulchuk|first1=Roman|last2=Daloz|first2=Anne Sophie|last3=Overland|first3=Indra|last4=Sagbakken|first4=Haakon Fossum|last5=Standal|first5=Karina|date=26 May 2022|title=A void in Central Asia research: climate change|journal=Central Asian Survey|volume=42|pages=1–20|doi=10.1080/02634937.2022.2059447|s2cid=249116255|issn=0263-4937|doi-access=free|hdl=11250/2999461|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Along with [[West Asia]], it has already had greater increases in hot temperature extremes than the other parts of Asia,<ref name="AR6_WGII_Chapter10" />{{rp|1464}} [[Rainfall]] in Central Asia had decreased, unlike elsewhere in Asia, and the frequency and intensity of [[dust storm]]s had grown (partly due to poor [[land use]] practices). [[Drought]]s have already become more likely, and their likelihood is expected to continue increasing with greater climate change.<ref name="AR6_WGII_Chapter10" />{{rp|1465}} By 2050, people in the [[Amu Darya]] basin may be faced with severe water scarcity due to both climate and socioeconomic reasons.<ref name="AR6_WGII_Chapter10">Shaw, R., Y. Luo, T. S. Cheong, S. Abdul Halim, S. Chaturvedi, M. Hashizume, G. E. Insarov, Y. Ishikawa, M. Jafari, A. Kitoh, J. Pulhin, C. Singh, K. Vasant, and Z. Zhang, 2022: [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Chapter10.pdf Chapter 10: Asia]. In [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability] [H.-O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E. S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, New York, US, pp. 1457–1579 |doi=10.1017/9781009325844.012.</ref>{{rp|1486}}

== History ==
{{Main|History of Central Asia}}{{See also|Soviet Central Asia}}
Although, during the golden age of Orientalism the place of Central Asia in the world history was marginalised, contemporary historiography has rediscovered the "centrality" of the Central Asia. The history of Central Asia is defined by the area's climate and geography. The aridness of the region made [[Agriculture in Central Asia|agriculture]] difficult, and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus, few major cities developed in the region; instead, the area was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the [[steppe]].
[[File:Indo-European migrations.jpg|thumb|Early [[Indo-European migrations]] from the [[Pontic steppes]] and across Central Asia. The [[Andronovo culture]] existed in Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BC.]]
[[File:Assimilation of Baltic and Aryan Peoples by Uralic Speakers in the Middle and Upper Volga Basin (Shaded Relief BG).png|thumb|Various [[List of ancient Iranian peoples|Iranic]] speaking populations in Central Asia during the Iron Age (highlighted in green)]]
Relations between the [[steppe nomads]] and the settled people in and around Central Asia were long marked by conflict. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to [[war]]fare, and the steppe [[Horses in warfare|horse riders]] became some of the most militarily potent people in the world, limited only by their lack of internal unity. Any internal unity that was achieved was most probably due to the influence of the [[Silk Road]], which traveled along Central Asia. Periodically, great leaders or changing conditions would organise several tribes into one force and create an almost unstoppable power. These included the [[Hun]] invasion of Europe, the [[Five Barbarians]] [[Invasion and rebellion of the Five Barbarians|rebellions in China]] and most notably the [[Timeline of Mongol conquests|Mongol conquest]] of much of [[Eurasia]].<ref>[http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Three.html A Land Conquered by the Mongols] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423014420/http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta%27s_Trip_Three.html |date=23 April 2008 }}</ref>

During pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, Central Asia was inhabited predominantly by speakers of [[Iranian languages]].<ref name="Bosworth-1990" /><ref>C.E. Bosworth, "The Appearance of the Arabs in Central Asia under the Umayyads and the establishment of Islam", in ''History of Civilisations of Central Asia'', Vol. IV: The Age of Achievement: AD 750 to the End of the Fifteenth Century, Part One: The Historical, Social and Economic Setting, edited by M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Multiple History Series. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 1998. excerpt from page 23: "Central Asia in the early seventh century, was ethnically, still largely an Iranian land whose people used various Middle Iranian languages.</ref> Among the ancient sedentary [[Iranian peoples]], the [[Sogdians]] and [[Khwarezmian language|Chorasmians]] played an important role, while Iranian peoples such as [[Scythians]] and the later on [[Alans]] lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle.

The main [[Turkic migration|migration]] of Turkic peoples occurred between the 6th and 11th centuries, when they spread across most of Central Asia. The [[Eurasian Steppe]] slowly transitioned from [[Indo European]] and [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]-speaking groups with dominant West-Eurasian ancestry to a more heterogeneous region with increasing East Asian ancestry through Turkic and Mongolian groups in the past thousands years, including extensive Turkic and later Mongol migrations out of Mongolia and slow assimilation of local populations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Damgaard|first1=Peter de Barros|last2=Marchi|first2=Nina|last3=Rasmussen|first3=Simon|last4=Peyrot|first4=Michaël|last5=Renaud|first5=Gabriel|last6=Korneliussen|first6=Thorfinn|last7=Moreno-Mayar|first7=J. Víctor|last8=Pedersen|first8=Mikkel Winther|last9=Goldberg|first9=Amy|last10=Usmanova|first10=Emma|last11=Baimukhanov|first11=Nurbol|last12=Loman|first12=Valeriy|last13=Hedeager|first13=Lotte|last14=Pedersen|first14=Anders Gorm|last15=Nielsen|first15=Kasper|date=May 2018|title=137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=557|issue=7705|pages=369–374|doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2|pmid=29743675|bibcode=2018Natur.557..369D|issn=1476-4687|hdl=1887/3202709|s2cid=13670282|hdl-access=free|access-date=6 August 2022|archive-date=21 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221160318/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 8th century AD, the [[Islamic expansion]] reached the region but had no significant demographic impact. In the 13th century AD, the [[Mongol invasion of Central Asia|Mongolian invasion of Central Asia]] brought most of the region under Mongolian influence, which had "enormous demographic success", but did not impact the cultural or linguistic landscape.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhabagin|first1=Maxat|last2=Balanovska|first2=Elena|last3=Sabitov|first3=Zhaxylyk|last4=Kuznetsova|first4=Marina|last5=Agdzhoyan|first5=Anastasiya|last6=Balaganskaya|first6=Olga|last7=Chukhryaeva|first7=Marina|last8=Markina|first8=Nadezhda|last9=Romanov|first9=Alexey|last10=Skhalyakho|first10=Roza|last11=Zaporozhchenko|first11=Valery|last12=Saroyants|first12=Liudmila|last13=Dalimova|first13=Dilbar|last14=Davletchurin|first14=Damir|last15=Turdikulova|first15=Shahlo|date=8 June 2017|title=The Connection of the Genetic, Cultural and Geographic Landscapes of Transoxiana|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|page=3085|doi=10.1038/s41598-017-03176-z|pmid=28596519|pmc=5465200|bibcode=2017NatSR...7.3085Z|issn=2045-2322}}</ref>

=== Invasion routes through Central Asia ===
[[File:Mongol dominions1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Mongol Empire]] at its greatest extent. The gray area is the later [[Timurid Empire]].]]
Once populated by [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] tribes and other [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European speaking people]], Central Asia experienced numerous invasions emanating out of [[Southern Siberia]] and [[Mongolia]] that would drastically affect the region. Genetic data shows that the different Central Asian Turkic-speaking peoples have between ~22% and ~70% East Asian ancestry (represented by "Baikal hunter-gatherer ancestry" shared with other Northeast Asians and Eastern Siberians), in contrast to Iranian-speaking Central Asians, specifically [[Tajiks]], which display genetic continuity to [[Indo-Iranians]] of the [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Guarino-Vignon-2022">{{Cite journal|last1=Guarino-Vignon|first1=Perle|last2=Marchi|first2=Nina|last3=Bendezu-Sarmiento|first3=Julio|last4=Heyer|first4=Evelyne|last5=Bon|first5=Céline|date=14 January 2022|title=Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=12|issue=1|page=733|doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4|pmid=35031610|pmc=8760286|bibcode=2022NatSR..12..733G|issn=2045-2322}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dai|display-authors=etal|date=25 August 2022|title=The Genetic Echo of the Tarim Mummies in Modern Central Asians|url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590|access-date=5 December 2022|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=39|issue=9|article-number=msac179|doi=10.1093/molbev/msac179|pmid=36006373|pmc=9469894|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205180435/https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590|url-status=live}}</ref> Certain Turkic ethnic groups, specifically the [[Kazakhs]], display even higher East Asian ancestry. This is explained by substantial [[Mongolic peoples|Mongolian]] influence on the [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] genome, through significant admixture between blue eyes, blonde hair, the medieval [[Kipchaks]] of Central Asia and the invading medieval Mongolians. The data suggests that the [[Mongol invasion of Central Asia]] had lasting impacts onto the genetic makeup of Kazakhs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhao|first1=Jing|last2=Wurigemule|first2=null|last3=Sun|first3=Jin|last4=Xia|first4=Ziyang|last5=He|first5=Guanglin|last6=Yang|first6=Xiaomin|last7=Guo|first7=Jianxin|last8=Cheng|first8=Hui-Zhen|last9=Li|first9=Yingxiang|last10=Lin|first10=Song|last11=Yang|first11=Tie-Lin|last12=Hu|first12=Xi|last13=Du|first13=Hua|last14=Cheng|first14=Peng|last15=Hu|first15=Rong|date=December 2020|title=Genetic substructure and admixture of Mongolians and Kazakhs inferred from genome-wide array genotyping|journal=Annals of Human Biology|volume=47|issue=7–8|pages=620–628|doi=10.1080/03014460.2020.1837952|issn=1464-5033|pmid=33059477|s2cid=222839155|url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/13280220}}</ref><ref>Estimating the impact of the Mongol expansion upon the gene pool of Central Asians. ЛД Дамба · 2018</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhabagin|first1=Maxat|last2=Sabitov|first2=Zhaxylyk|last3=Tarlykov|first3=Pavel|last4=Tazhigulova|first4=Inkar|last5=Junissova|first5=Zukhra|last6=Yerezhepov|first6=Dauren|last7=Akilzhanov|first7=Rakhmetolla|last8=Zholdybayeva|first8=Elena|last9=Wei|first9=Lan-Hai|last10=Akilzhanova|first10=Ainur|last11=Balanovsky|first11=Oleg|last12=Balanovska|first12=Elena|date=22 October 2020|title=The medieval Mongolian roots of Y-chromosomal lineages from South Kazakhstan|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=21|issue=1|page=87|doi=10.1186/s12863-020-00897-5|issn=1471-2156|pmc=7583311|pmid=33092538|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Khussainova|first1=Elmira|last2=Kisselev|first2=Ilya|last3=Iksan|first3=Olzhas|last4=Bekmanov|first4=Bakhytzhan|last5=Skvortsova|first5=Liliya|last6=Garshin|first6=Alexander|last7=Kuzovleva|first7=Elena|last8=Zhaniyazov|first8=Zhassulan|last9=Zhunussova|first9=Gulnur|last10=Musralina|first10=Lyazzat|last11=Kahbatkyzy|first11=Nurzhibek|last12=Amirgaliyeva|first12=Almira|last13=Begmanova|first13=Mamura|last14=Seisenbayeva|first14=Akerke|last15=Bespalova|first15=Kira|date=2022|title=Genetic Relationship Among the Kazakh People Based on Y-STR Markers Reveals Evidence of Genetic Variation Among Tribes and Zhuz|journal=Frontiers in Genetics|volume=12|article-number=801295|doi=10.3389/fgene.2021.801295|pmid=35069700|pmc=8777105|issn=1664-8021|doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[File:Men from Khiva.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Uzbek men from [[Khiva]], {{c.|1861}}–1880]]
According to recent [[genetic genealogy]] testing, the genetic admixture of the Uzbeks clusters somewhere between the [[Iranian peoples]] and the [[Mongols]].<ref name="journal">{{cite journal|doi=10.1086/342096|author=Tatjana Zerjal|title=A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|year=2002|volume=71|issue=3|pages=466–482|pmid=12145751|pmc=419996|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Another study shows that the Uzbeks are closely related to other Turkic peoples of Central Asia and rather distant from Iranian people. The study also analysed the maternal and paternal DNA haplogroups and shows that Turkic speaking groups are more homogenous than Iranian speaking groups.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heyer|first1=Evelyne|last2=Balaresque|first2=Patricia|last3=Jobling|first3=Mark A.|last4=Quintana-Murci|first4=Lluis|last5=Chaix|first5=Raphaelle|last6=Segurel|first6=Laure|last7=Aldashev|first7=Almaz|last8=Hegay|first8=Tanya|date=1 September 2009|title=Genetic diversity and the emergence of ethnic groups in Central Asia|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=10|issue=1|page=49|doi=10.1186/1471-2156-10-49|issn=1471-2156|pmc=2745423|pmid=19723301|doi-access=free}}</ref> Genetic studies analyzing the full genome of Uzbeks and other Central Asian populations found that about ~27-60% of the Uzbek ancestry is derived from East Asian sources, with the remainder ancestry (~40–73%) being made up by European and Middle Eastern components.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mezzavilla|first1=Massimo|last2=Vozzi|first2=Diego|last3=Pirastu|first3=Nicola|last4=Girotto|first4=Giorgia|last5=d'Adamo|first5=Pio|last6=Gasparini|first6=Paolo|last7=Colonna|first7=Vincenza|date=5 December 2014|title=Genetic landscape of populations along the Silk Road: admixture and migration patterns|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=15|issue=1|page=131|doi=10.1186/s12863-014-0131-6|issn=1471-2156|pmc=4267745|pmid=25476266|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Guarino-Vignon-2022"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Triska|first1=Petr|last2=Chekanov|first2=Nikolay|last3=Stepanov|first3=Vadim|last4=Khusnutdinova|first4=Elza K.|last5=Kumar|first5=Ganesh Prasad Arun|last6=Akhmetova|first6=Vita|last7=Babalyan|first7=Konstantin|last8=Boulygina|first8=Eugenia|last9=Kharkov|first9=Vladimir|last10=Gubina|first10=Marina|last11=Khidiyatova|first11=Irina|last12=Khitrinskaya|first12=Irina|last13=Khrameeva|first13=Ekaterina E.|last14=Khusainova|first14=Rita|last15=Konovalova|first15=Natalia|date=28 December 2017|title=Between Lake Baikal and the Baltic Sea: genomic history of the gateway to Europe|journal=BMC Genetics|volume=18|issue=1|page=110|doi=10.1186/s12863-017-0578-3|issn=1471-2156|pmc=5751809|pmid=29297395|doi-access=free}}</ref> According to a recent study, the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Turkmens share more of their gene pool with various East Asian and Siberian populations than with West Asian or European populations, though the Turkmens have a large percentage from populations to the east, their main components are Central Asian.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click+on+image+to+zoom&p=PMC3&id=4405460_pgen.1005068.g002.jpg|title=PubMed Central Image Viewer.|website=National Center for Biotechnology Information}}</ref> The study further suggests that both migration and linguistic assimilation helped to spread the Turkic languages in Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Villems|first1=Richard|last2=Khusnutdinova|first2=Elza|last3=Kivisild|first3=Toomas|last4=Yepiskoposyan|first4=Levon|last5=Voevoda|first5=Mikhail|last6=Osipova|first6=Ludmila|last7=Malyarchuk|first7=Boris|last8=Derenko|first8=Miroslava|last9=Damba|first9=Larisa|date=21 April 2015|title=The Genetic Legacy of the Expansion of Turkic-Speaking Nomads across Eurasia|journal=PLOS Genetics|language=en|volume=11|issue=4|article-number=e1005068|doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005068|issn=1553-7404|pmc=4405460|pmid=25898006|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Medieval to modern history ===
[[File:Mongolia in 1636.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Central Asia in 1636. The [[Dzungar Khanate]] was the last great [[nomadic empire]] in Central Asia.]]
The [[Tang dynasty]] of China expanded westwards and controlled large parts of Central Asia, directly and indirectly through their Turkic vassals. Tang China actively supported the Turkification of Central Asia, while extending its cultural influence.<ref name="XZ">{{cite journal|last1=Zhou|first1=Xiuqin (University of Pennsylvania)|date=2009|title=Zhaoling: The Mausoleum of Emperor Tang Taizong|url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp187_taizong_emperor.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923100254/http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp187_taizong_emperor.pdf|archive-date=23 September 2011|url-status=live|journal=Sino-Platonic Papers|issue=187|pages=155–156}}</ref> The Tang Chinese were defeated by the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] at the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751, marking the end of the Tang dynasty's western expansion and the 150 years of Chinese influence. The [[Tibetan Empire]] would take the chance to rule portions of Central Asia and South Asia. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the [[Mongols]] conquered and ruled the largest contiguous empire in recorded history. Most of Central Asia fell under the control of the [[Chagatai Khanate]].

The dominance of the nomads ended in the 16th century, as [[firearm]]s allowed settled peoples to gain control of the region. [[Russia]], [[China]], and other powers expanded into the region and had captured the bulk of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. The [[Qing dynasty]] gained control of [[East Turkestan]] in the 18th century as a result of a [[Dzungar–Qing Wars|long struggle with the Dzungars]]. The Russian Empire [[Russian conquest of Central Asia|conquered]] the lands of the [[nomad]]ic Kazakhs, Turkmens, Kyrgyz and Central Asian [[khanat]]es in the 19th century. A major revolt known as the [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Revolt]] occurred in the 1860s and 1870s in the eastern part of Central Asia, and [[Xinjiang under Qing rule|Qing rule]] almost collapsed in all of East Turkestan. After the [[Russian Revolution]], the western Central Asian regions were incorporated into the [[Soviet Union]]. The eastern part of Central Asia, known as [[Xinjiang]], was [[Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China|incorporated]] into the [[People's Republic of China]], having been previously ruled by the [[Qing dynasty]] and the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]. Mongolia gained its independence from China and has remained independent but became a Soviet [[satellite state]] until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Afghanistan remained relatively independent of major influence by the Soviet Union until the [[Saur Revolution]] of 1978.
[[File:Karazin - Entry of Russian troops into Samarkand 1868.jpg|thumb|Russian troops taking [[Samarkand]] during the [[Russian conquest of Bukhara]], 1868]]
The Soviet areas of Central Asia saw much [[Soviet infrastructure in Central Asia|industrialisation and construction of infrastructure]], but also the suppression of local cultures, hundreds of thousands of deaths from failed collectivisation programmes, and a lasting legacy of ethnic tensions and environmental problems. Soviet authorities [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported]] millions of people, including entire nationalities,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.faqs.org/minorities/USSR/Deported-Nationalities.html|title=Deported Nationalities|access-date=14 November 2014|archive-date=4 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104090832/http://www.faqs.org/minorities/USSR/Deported-Nationalities.html|url-status=live}}</ref> from western areas of the Soviet Union to Central Asia and [[Siberia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.anneapplebaum.com/gulag/intro.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013124127/http://anneapplebaum.com/gulag/intro.html|title=Anne Applebaum – Gulag: A History Intro|archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref> According to Touraj Atabaki and Sanjyot Mehendale, "From 1959 to 1970, about two million people from various parts of the Soviet Union migrated to Central Asia, of which about one million moved to Kazakhstan."<ref>"''[https://books.google.com/books?id=zwKBZmpBo5YC&pg=PA66 Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131014/https://books.google.com/books?id=zwKBZmpBo5YC&pg=PA66 |date=10 April 2023 }}''". Touraj Atabaki, Sanjyot Mehendale (2005). p.{{spaces}}66. {{ISBN|0-415-33260-5}}.</ref>

=== After the collapse of the Soviet Union ===
With the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]], five countries gained independence, that is, [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Turkmenistan]], and [[Uzbekistan]]. The historian and [[Turkologist]] [[Peter B. Golden]] explains that without the imperial manipulations of the Russian Empire but above all the Soviet Union, the creation of said republics would have been impossible.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Golden|first1=Peter B.|author1-link=Peter B. Golden|editor1-last=Schmidtke|editor1-first=Sabine|editor1-link=Sabine Schmidtke|title=Studying the Near and Middle East at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1935–2018|date=2018|publisher=Gorgias Press|location=Piscataway, New Jersey, US|page=421|url=|chapter=The construction of ethnicity in medieval Turkic Eurasia}}</ref>

In nearly all the new states, former Communist Party officials retained power as local strongmen. None of the new republics could be considered functional democracies in the early days of independence, although in recent years Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and [[Mongolia]] have made further progress towards more open societies, unlike Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, which have maintained many Soviet-style repressive tactics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eiu.com//public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2011|title=Democracy Index 2011|work=Economist Intelligence Unit|access-date=22 March 2012|archive-date=7 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307135720/http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in the early 2000s, the Chinese government engaged in a [[Persecution of Uyghurs in China|series of human rights abuses]] against [[Uyghurs]] and other ethnic and religious minorities in [[Xinjiang]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=8 February 2021|title=Uighurs: 'Credible case' China carrying out genocide|work=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55973215|archive-date=8 February 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210208184814/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55973215|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Culture ==
=== Arts ===
[[File:Petropavl mosque.jpg|thumb|Mosque in [[Petropavl]]ovsk, Kazakhstan]]
{{Main|Central Asian art}}{{See also|Architecture of Central Asia}}
At the crossroads of Asia, [[shamanistic]] practices live alongside [[Buddhism]]. Thus, [[Yama (East Asia)|Yama]], Lord of Death, was revered in Tibet as a spiritual guardian and judge. [[Mongolian Buddhism]], in particular, was influenced by [[Tibetan Buddhism]]. The [[Qianlong Emperor]] of Qing China in the 18th century was Tibetan Buddhist and would sometimes travel from [[Beijing]] to other cities for personal religious worship.
[[File:Sadi and the youth of kashgar Bukhara 1547.JPG|thumb|left|Saadi Shirazi is welcomed by a youth from [[Kashgar]] during a forum in [[Bukhara]].]]
Central Asia also has an indigenous form of improvisational [[oral poetry]] that is over 1000 years old. It is principally practiced in [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[Kazakhstan]] by ''akyns'', lyrical improvisationalists. They engage in [[Freestyle battle|lyrical battles]], the ''[[aytysh]]'' or the ''[[alym sabak]]''. The tradition arose out of early bardic [[Oral tradition|oral historians]]. They are usually accompanied by a [[stringed instrument]]—in Kyrgyzstan, a three-stringed [[komuz]], and in Kazakhstan, a similar two-stringed instrument, the [[dombra]].

Photography in Central Asia began to develop after 1882, when a [[Russian Mennonite]] photographer named Wilhelm Penner moved to the [[Khanate of Khiva]] during the Mennonite migration to Central Asia led by [[Claas Epp, Jr.]] Upon his arrival to [[Khanate of Khiva]], Penner shared his photography skills with a local student Khudaybergen Divanov, who later became the founder of [[Uzbek photography]].<ref>Walter Ratliff, "Pilgrims on the Silk Road: A Muslim-Christian Encounter in Khiva", Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2010</ref>
[[File:Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in Hazrat-e Turkestan, Kazakhstan.jpg|thumb|[[Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi]] in Hazrat-e Turkestan, [[Kazakhstan]]. Timurid architecture consisted of [[Persian art]].]]
Some also learn to sing the ''[[Manas (epic)|Manas]]'', Kyrgyzstan's epic poem (those who learn the ''Manas'' exclusively but do not improvise are called ''manaschis''). During Soviet rule, ''akyn'' performance was co-opted by the authorities and subsequently declined in popularity. With the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], it has enjoyed a resurgence, although ''akyns'' still do use their art to campaign for political candidates. A 2005 ''[[The Washington Post]]'' article proposed a similarity between the improvisational art of ''akyns'' and modern [[freestyle rap]] performed in the West.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10646-2005Mar5.html|title="In Central Asia, a Revival of an Ancient Form of Rap – Art of Ad-Libbing Oral History Draws New Devotees in Post-Communist Era" by Peter Finn, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, March 6, 2005, p. A20.|access-date=14 November 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=6 March 2005|archive-date=5 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805151952/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10646-2005Mar5.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

As a consequence of Russian colonisation, European fine arts – painting, sculpture and graphics – have developed in Central Asia. The first years of the Soviet regime saw the appearance of modernism, which took inspiration from the Russian avant-garde movement. Until the 1980s, Central Asian arts had developed along with general tendencies of Soviet arts. In the 1990s, arts of the region underwent some significant changes. Institutionally speaking, some fields of arts were regulated by the birth of the art market, some stayed as representatives of official views, while many were sponsored by international organisations. The years of 1990–2000 were times for the establishment of contemporary arts. In the region, many important international exhibitions are taking place, Central Asian art is represented in European and American museums, and the Central Asian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale has been organised since 2005.

=== Sports ===
{{Main|Sport in Central Asia}}
[[File:SB - Kazakh man on horse with golden eagle.jpg|thumb|left|[[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] man on a horse with golden eagle]]
[[Equestrianism|Equestrian sports]] are traditional in Central Asia, with disciplines like [[endurance riding]], [[buzkashi]], [[dzhigit]] and [[kyz kuu]].

The traditional game of [[Buzkashi]] is played throughout the Central Asian region, the countries sometimes organise Buzkashi competition amongst each other. The First regional competition among the Central Asian countries, [[Russia]], Chinese [[Xinjiang]] and [[Turkey]] was held in 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Asia Holds First 'Kokpar' Championship|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/25104199.html|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|access-date=31 March 2020|language=en|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727190239/https://www.rferl.org/a/25104199.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The first world title competition was played in 2017 and won by [[Kazakhstan]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Showdown in Astana: Rival Kazakhs, Kyrgyz Battle For First Kokpar World Title|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-kyrgyzstan-kokpar-rivalry-world-championship/28701819.html|newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=29 August 2017|language=en|access-date=31 March 2020|archive-date=10 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710143436/https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-kyrgyzstan-kokpar-rivalry-world-championship/28701819.html|url-status=live|last=Baumgartner|first=Pete}}</ref>

[[Association football]] is popular across Central Asia. Most countries are members of the [[Central Asian Football Association]], a region of the [[Asian Football Confederation]]. However, [[Kazakhstan]] is a member of the [[UEFA]].

[[Wrestling]] is popular across Central Asia, with Kazakhstan having claimed 14 Olympic medals, Uzbekistan seven, and Kyrgyzstan three. As former Soviet states, Central Asian countries have been successful in [[gymnastics]].

[[Mixed Martial Arts]] is one of more common sports in Central Asia, [[Kyrgyz people|Kyrgyz]] athlete [[Valentina Shevchenko]] holding the [[UFC]] [[Flyweight]] Champion title.

[[Cricket]] is the most popular sport in [[Afghanistan]]. The [[Afghanistan national cricket team]], first formed in 2001, has claimed wins over Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Notable Kazakh competitors include cyclists [[Alexander Vinokourov]] and [[Andrey Kashechkin]], boxer [[Vassiliy Jirov]] and [[Gennady Golovkin]], runner [[Olga Shishigina]], decathlete [[Dmitriy Karpov]], gymnast [[Aliya Yussupova]], judoka [[Askhat Zhitkeyev]] and [[Maxim Rakov]], skier [[Vladimir Smirnov (skier)|Vladimir Smirnov]], weightlifter [[Ilya Ilyin]], and figure skaters [[Denis Ten]] and [[Elizabet Tursynbaeva]].

Notable Uzbekistani competitors include cyclist [[Djamolidine Abdoujaparov]], boxer [[Ruslan Chagaev]], canoer [[Michael Kolganov]], gymnast [[Oksana Chusovitina]], tennis player [[Denis Istomin]], chess player [[Rustam Kasimdzhanov]], and figure skater [[Misha Ge]].

== Economy ==
[[File:GDP growth trends in Central Asia, 2000−2013.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|GDP growth trends in Central Asia, 2000–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.1]]
[[File:GDP in Central Asia by economic sector, 2005 and 2013.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|GDP in Central Asia by economic sector, 2005 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 14.2]]
[[File:GDP per capita development in Central Asia.svg|thumb|GDP per capita development in Central Asia, since 1973]]
Since gaining independence in the early 1990s, the Central Asian republics have gradually been moving from state-controlled economies to a market economies. However, reform has been deliberately gradual and selective, as governments strive to limit the social cost and ameliorate living standards. All five countries are implementing structural reforms to improve competitiveness. Kazakhstan is the only CIS country to be included in the 2020<ref name="imbwc2020">{{cite web|title=IMB World Competitiveness Rankings 2020|url=https://www.imd.org/contentassets/6333be1d9a884a90ba7e6f3103ed0bea/wcy2020_overall_competitiveness_rankings_2020.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621140124/https://www.imd.org/contentassets/6333be1d9a884a90ba7e6f3103ed0bea/wcy2020_overall_competitiveness_rankings_2020.pdf|archive-date=21 June 2020|url-status=live|website=imb.org}}</ref> and 2019<ref name="iwbwc2019">{{cite web|title=2019 World Competitiveness Ranking|url=https://www.imd.org/contentassets/6b85960f0d1b42a0a07ba59c49e828fb/one-year-change-vertical.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530135916/https://www.imd.org/contentassets/6b85960f0d1b42a0a07ba59c49e828fb/one-year-change-vertical.pdf|archive-date=30 May 2019|url-status=live|website=imd.org}}</ref> IWB World Competitiveness rankings. In particular, they have been modernizing the industrial sector and fostering the development of service industries through business-friendly fiscal policies and other measures, to reduce the share of agriculture in GDP. Between 2005 and 2013, the share of agriculture dropped in all but Tajikistan, where it increased while industry decreased. The fastest growth in industry was observed in Turkmenistan, whereas the services sector progressed most in the other four countries.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Public policies pursued by Central Asian governments focus on buffering the political and economic spheres from external shocks. This includes maintaining a trade balance, minimizing public debt and accumulating national reserves. They cannot totally insulate themselves from negative exterior forces, however, such as the persistently weak recovery of global industrial production and international trade since 2008. Notwithstanding this, they have emerged relatively unscathed from the [[2008 financial crisis]]. Growth faltered only briefly in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and not at all in Uzbekistan, where the economy grew by more than 7% per year on average between 2008 and 2013. Turkmenistan achieved unusually high 14.7% growth in 2011. Kyrgyzstan's performance has been more erratic but this phenomenon was visible well before 2008.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

The republics which have fared best benefitted from the commodities boom during the first decade of the 2000s. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have abundant oil and natural gas reserves and Uzbekistan's own reserves make it more or less self-sufficient. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan all have gold reserves and Kazakhstan has the world's largest uranium reserves. Fluctuating global demand for cotton, aluminium and other metals (except gold) in recent years has hit Tajikistan hardest, since aluminium and raw cotton are its chief exports − the Tajik Aluminium Company is the country's primary industrial asset. In January 2014, the Minister of Agriculture announced the government's intention to reduce the acreage of land cultivated by cotton to make way for other crops. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are major cotton exporters themselves, ranking fifth and ninth respectively worldwide for volume in 2014.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015">{{Cite book|title=Central Asia. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030|last=Mukhitdinova|first=Nasiba|publisher=UNESCO|year=2015|isbn=978-92-3-100129-1|location=Paris|pages=365–387}}</ref>

Although both exports and imports have grown significantly over the past decade, Central Asian republics countries remain vulnerable to economic shocks, owing to their reliance on exports of raw materials, a restricted circle of trading partners and a negligible manufacturing capacity. Kyrgyzstan has the added disadvantage of being considered resource poor, although it does have ample water. Most of its electricity is generated by hydropower.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

The Kyrgyz economy was shaken by a series of shocks between 2010 and 2012. In April 2010, President [[Kurmanbek Bakiyev]] was deposed by a popular uprising, with former minister of foreign affairs [[Roza Otunbayeva]] assuring the interim presidency until the election of [[Almazbek Atambayev]] in November 2011. [[Food prices]] rose two years in a row and, in 2012, production at the major Kumtor gold mine fell by 60% after the site was perturbed by geological movements. According to the World Bank, 33.7% of the population was living in absolute poverty{{clarify|date=January 2020}}<!-- what's the threshold?--> in 2010 and 36.8% a year later.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Despite high rates of economic growth in recent years, GDP per capita in Central Asia was higher than the average for developing countries only in Kazakhstan in 2013 (PPP$23,206) and Turkmenistan (PPP$14 201). It dropped to PPP$5,167 for Uzbekistan, home to 45% of the region's population, and was even lower for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Kazakhstan leads the Central Asian region in terms of foreign direct investments. The Kazakh economy accounts for more than 70% of all the investment attracted in Central Asia.<ref>{{cite web|title=70% of investments into Central Asia are drawn to Kazakhstan|url=http://kazakh-tv.kz/en/view/business/page_198413_70-of-investments-into-central-asia-are-drawn-to-kazakhstan|website=kazakh-tv.kz|access-date=3 October 2018|archive-date=3 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003153515/http://kazakh-tv.kz/en/view/business/page_198413_70-of-investments-into-central-asia-are-drawn-to-kazakhstan|url-status=live}}</ref>

In terms of the economic influence of big powers, China is viewed as one of the key economic players in Central Asia, especially after Beijing launched its grand development strategy known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329310641|title=China's Belt and Road Initiative through the Lens of Central Asia|last1=Vakulchuk|first1=Roman|last2=Overland|first2=Indra|publisher=Routledge|year=2019|isbn=978-1-138-60749-1|editor-last=M. Cheung|editor-first=Fanny|location=London.|pages=115–133|editor2-last=Hong|editor2-first=Ying-yi|access-date=25 April 2019|archive-date=24 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024180554/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329310641_China%27s_Belt_and_Road_Initiative_through_the_lens_of_Central_Asia|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Central Asian countries attracted $378.2{{spaces}}billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) between 2007 and 2019. Kazakhstan accounted for 77.7% of the total FDI directed to the region. Kazakhstan is also the largest country in Central Asia accounting for more than 60 percent of the region's gross domestic product (GDP).<ref name="CAFDI">{{cite web|title=FDI to Central Asia Reached 378.2{{spaces}}billion Over Past 13 years|url=https://astanatimes.com/2020/12/fdi-to-central-asia-reached-378-2-billion-over-past-13-years/|website=The Astana Times|date=9 December 2020|access-date=10 December 2020|archive-date=11 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211080521/https://astanatimes.com/2020/12/fdi-to-central-asia-reached-378-2-billion-over-past-13-years/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Central Asian nations fared better economically throughout the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]. Many variables are likely to have been at play, but disparities in economic structure, the intensity of the pandemic, and accompanying containment efforts may all be linked to part of the variety in nations' experiences.<ref name="European Investment Bank.-2022">{{Cite book|author1=European Investment Bank.|url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/business-resilience-in-the-pandemic-and-beyond|title=Business resilience in the pandemic and beyond: Adaptation, innovation, financing and climate action from Eastern Europe to Central Asia|date=18 May 2022|publisher=European Investment Bank|doi=10.2867/832329|isbn=978-92-861-5086-9|language=EN|access-date=20 July 2022|archive-date=3 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703145318/https://www01.eib.org/en/publications/business-resilience-in-the-pandemic-and-beyond|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Education in the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Findings from PISA 2018|url=https://www.unicef.org/eca/reports/education-western-balkans-eastern-europe-and-central-asia-findings-pisa-2018|access-date=19 July 2022|website=UNICEF|date=18 May 2022|language=en|archive-date=19 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719123339/https://www.unicef.org/eca/reports/education-western-balkans-eastern-europe-and-central-asia-findings-pisa-2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Central Asian countries are, however, predicted to be hit the worst in the future. Only 4% of permanently closed businesses anticipate to return in the future, with huge differences across sectors, ranging from 3% in lodging and food services to 27% in retail commerce.<ref name="European Investment Bank.-2022"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality industry|url=https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/consumer/articles/impact-of-covid-19-on-the-hospitality-industry.html|access-date=19 July 2022|website=Deloitte Netherlands|language=nl|archive-date=19 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719123331/https://www2.deloitte.com/nl/nl/pages/consumer/articles/impact-of-covid-19-on-the-hospitality-industry.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2022, experts assessed that global climate change is likely to pose multiple economic risks to Central Asia and may possibly result in many billions of losses unless proper adaptation measures are developed to counter growing temperatures across the region.<ref name="Vakulchuk-2022"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Vakulchuk|first=Roman|date=28 July 2022|title=Climate Change in Central Asia: Are we Beyond the Point of no Return?|work=Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting (CABAR)|url=https://cabar.asia/en/climate-change-in-central-asia-are-we-beyond-the-point-of-no-return|access-date=1 August 2022|archive-date=1 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801132933/https://cabar.asia/en/climate-change-in-central-asia-are-we-beyond-the-point-of-no-return|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Education, science and technology ==
{{See also|Science and technology in Kazakhstan|Science and technology in Kyrgyzstan|Science and technology in Tajikistan|Science and technology in Turkmenistan|Science and technology in Uzbekistan}}

=== Modernisation of research infrastructure ===
Bolstered by strong economic growth in all but [[Science and technology in Kyrgyzstan|Kyrgyzstan]], national development strategies are fostering new high-tech industries, pooling resources and orienting the economy towards export markets. Many national research institutions established during the Soviet era have since become obsolete with the development of new technologies and changing national priorities. This has led countries to reduce the number of national research institutions since 2009 by grouping existing institutions to create research hubs. Several of the [[Turkmen Academy of Sciences]]'s institutes were merged in 2014: the Institute of Botany was merged with the Institute of Medicinal Plants to become the [[Institute of Biology and Medicinal Plants]]; the Sun Institute was merged with the Institute of Physics and Mathematics to become the [[Institute of Solar Energy]]; and the Institute of Seismology merged with the State Service for Seismology to become the [[Institute of Seismology and Atmospheric Physics]]. In [[Science and technology in Uzbekistan|Uzbekistan]], more than 10 institutions of the Academy of Sciences have been reorganised, following the issuance of a decree by the Cabinet of Ministers in February 2012. The aim is to orient academic research towards problem-solving and ensure continuity between basic and applied research. For example, the Mathematics and Information Technology Research Institute has been subsumed under the [[National University of Uzbekistan]] and the Institute for Comprehensive Research on Regional Problems of Samarkand has been transformed into a problem-solving laboratory on environmental issues within [[Samarkand State University]]. Other research institutions have remained attached to the [[Uzbek Academy of Sciences]], such as the [[Centre of Genomics and Bioinformatics]].<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

[[Science and technology in Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan]] and [[Science and technology in Turkmenistan|Turkmenistan]] are also building technology parks as part of their drive to modernise infrastructure. In 2011, construction began of a technopark in the village of Bikrova near Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital. It will combine research, education, industrial facilities, business incubators and exhibition centres. The technopark will house research on alternative energy sources (sun, wind) and the assimilation of nanotechnologies. Between 2010 and 2012, technological parks were set up in the east, south and north Kazakhstan oblasts (administrative units) and in the capital, Astana. A Centre for Metallurgy was also established in the east Kazakhstan oblast, as well as a Centre for Oil and Gas Technologies which will be part of the planned Caspian Energy Hub. In addition, the Centre for Technology Commercialisation has been set up in Kazakhstan as part of the Parasat National Scientific and Technological Holding, a joint stock company established in 2008 that is 100% state-owned. The centre supports research projects in technology marketing, intellectual property protection, technology licensing contracts and start-ups. The centre plans to conduct a technology audit in Kazakhstan and to review the legal framework regulating the commercialisation of research results and technology.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />
[[File:Trends in GERD GDP ratio in Central Asia, 2001−2013.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Trends in research expenditure in Central Asia, as a percentage of GDP, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: 2030 (2015), Figure 14.3]]
Countries are seeking to augment the efficiency of traditional extractive sectors but also to make greater use of information and communication technologies and other modern technologies, such as solar energy, to develop the business sector, education and research. In March 2013, two research institutes were created by presidential decree to foster the development of alternative energy sources in Uzbekistan, with funding from the [[Asian Development Bank]] and other institutions: the SPU Physical−Technical Institute ([[Physics Sun Institute]]) and the [[International Solar Energy Institute]]. Three universities have been set up since 2011 to foster competence in strategic economic areas: [[Nazarbayev University]] in Kazakhstan (first intake in 2011), an international research university, [[Inha University in Tashkent|Inha University]] in Uzbekistan (first intake in 2014), specializing in information and communication technologies, and the [[International Oil and Gas University]] in Turkmenistan (founded in 2013). Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both generalizing the teaching of foreign languages at school, in order to facilitate international ties. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have both adopted the three-tier bachelor's, master's and PhD degree system, in 2007 and 2012 respectively, which is gradually replacing the Soviet system of Candidates and Doctors of Science. In 2010, Kazakhstan became the only Central Asian member of the [[Bologna Process]], which seeks to harmonise higher education systems in order to create a European Higher Education Area.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

=== Financial investment in research ===
The Central Asian republics' ambition of developing the business sector, education and research is being hampered by chronic low investment in research and development. Over the decade to 2013, the region's investment in research and development hovered around 0.2–0.3% of GDP. Uzbekistan broke with this trend in 2013 by raising its own research intensity to 0.41% of GDP.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Kazakhstan is the only country where the business enterprise and private non-profit sectors make any significant contribution to research and development – but research intensity overall is low in Kazakhstan: just 0.18% of GDP in 2013. Moreover, few industrial enterprises conduct research in Kazakhstan. Only one in eight (12.5%) of the country's manufacturing firms were active in innovation in 2012, according to a survey by the [[UNESCO Institute for Statistics]]. Enterprises prefer to purchase technological solutions that are already embodied in imported machinery and equipment. Just 4% of firms purchase the license and patents that come with this technology. Nevertheless, there appears to be a growing demand for the products of research, since enterprises spent 4.5 times more on scientific and technological services in 2008 than in 1997.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />
[[File:Central Asian researchers by sector of employment (HC), 2013.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Central Asian researchers by sector of employment (HC), 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.5]]

=== Trends in researchers ===
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan count the highest researcher density in Central Asia. The number of researchers per million population is close to the world average (1,083 in 2013) in Kazakhstan (1,046) and higher than the world average in Uzbekistan (1,097).<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian country where the business enterprise and private non-profit sectors make any significant contribution to research and development. Uzbekistan is in a particularly vulnerable position, with its heavy reliance on higher education: three-quarters of researchers were employed by the university sector in 2013 and just 6% in the business enterprise sector. With most Uzbek university researchers nearing retirement, this imbalance imperils Uzbekistan's research future. Almost all holders of a Candidate of Science, Doctor of Science or PhD are more than 40 years old and half are aged over 60; more than one in three researchers (38.4%) holds a PhD degree, or its equivalent, the remainder holding a bachelor's or master's degree.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

[[File:Central Asian researchers by field of science, 2013.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Central Asian researchers by field of science, 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.4]]Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have all maintained a share of women researchers above 40% since the fall of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan has even achieved gender parity, with Kazakh women dominating medical and health research and representing some 45–55% of engineering and technology researchers in 2013. In Tajikistan, however, only one in three scientists (34%) was a woman in 2013, down from 40% in 2002. Although policies are in place to give Tajik women equal rights and opportunities, these are underfunded and poorly understood. Turkmenistan has offered a state guarantee of equality for women since a law adopted in 2007 but the lack of available data makes it impossible to draw any conclusions as to the law's impact on research. As for Turkmenistan, it does not make data available on higher education, research expenditure or researchers.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

{| class="wikitable"
|+ PhDs obtained in science and engineering in Central Asia, 2013 or closest year
! rowspan=3 |
! colspan="2" | PhDs
! colspan="4" | PhDs in science
! colspan="4" | PhDs in engineering
|-
! rowspan=2 | Total
! rowspan=2 | Women<br />(%)
! rowspan=2 | Total
! rowspan=2 | Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women
! rowspan=2 | Total
! rowspan=2 | Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women
|-
! colspan=2 | Per million pop.
! colspan=2 | Per million pop.
|-
| Kazakhstan (2013)
| 247
| 51
| 73
| 60
| 4.4
| 2.7
| 37
| 38
| 2.3
| 0.9
|-
| Kyrgyzstan (2012)
| 499
| 63
| 91
| 63
| 16.6
| 10.4
| 54
| 63
| –
| –
|-
| Tajikistan (2012)
| 331
| 11
| 31
| –
| 3.9
| –
| 14
| –
| –
| –
|-
| Uzbekistan (2011)
| 838
| 42
| 152
| 30
| 5.4
| 1.6
| 118
| 27.0
| –
| –
|}Source: ''UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030'' (2015), Table 14.1

Note: PhD graduates in science cover life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and computing; PhDs in engineering also cover manufacturing and construction. For Central Asia, the generic term of PhD also encompasses Candidate of Science and Doctor of Science degrees. Data are unavailable for Turkmenistan.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Central Asian researchers by field of science and gender, 2013 or closest year
! rowspan=3 |
! colspan="4" rowspan="2" | Total researchers (head counts)
! colspan="12" | Researchers by field of science (head counts)
|-
! colspan="2" | Natural Sciences
! colspan="2" | Engineering and<br />technology
! colspan="2" | Medical and<br />health sciences
! colspan="2" | Agricultural<br />sciences
! colspan="2" | Social sciences
! colspan="2" | Humanities
|-
! Total
! Per<br />million<br />pop.
! Number of<br />women
! Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women<br />(%)
! Total
! Women<br />(%)
|-
| Kazakhstan (2013)
| 17,195
| 1,046
| 8,849
| 51.5
| 5,091
| 51.9
| 4,996
| 44.7
| 1,068
| 69.5
| 2,150
| 43.4
| 1,776
| 61.0
| 2 114
| 57.5
|-
| Kyrgyzstan (2011)
| 2,224
| 412
| 961
| 43.2
| 593
| 46.5
| 567
| 30.0
| 393
| 44.0
| 212
| 50.0
| 154
| 42.9
| 259
| 52.1
|-
| Tajikistan (2013)
| 2,152
| 262
| 728
| 33.8
| 509
| 30.3
| 206
| 18.0
| 374
| 67.6
| 472
| 23.5
| 335
| 25.7
| 256
| 34.0
|-
| Uzbekistan (2011)
| 30,890
| 1,097
| 12,639
| 40.9
| 6,910
| 35.3
| 4,982
| 30.1
| 3,659
| 53.6
| 1,872
| 24.8
| 6,817
| 41.2
| 6,650
| 52.0
|}
Source: ''UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030'' (2015), Table 14.1

=== Research output ===
[[File:Growth in scientific output has accelerated in Kazakhstan since 2012.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Scientific publications from Central Asia catalogued by Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Science Citation Index Expanded, 2005–2014, UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.6]]
The number of scientific papers published in Central Asia grew by almost 50% between 2005 and 2014, driven by Kazakhstan, which overtook Uzbekistan over this period to become the region's most prolific scientific publisher, according to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded). Between 2005 and 2014, Kazakhstan's share of scientific papers from the region grew from 35% to 56%. Although two-thirds of papers from the region have a foreign co-author, the main partners tend to come from beyond Central Asia, namely the Russian Federation, USA, German, United Kingdom and Japan.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Five Kazakh patents were registered at the US Patent and Trademark Office between 2008 and 2013, compared to three for Uzbek inventors and none at all for the other three Central Asian republics, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />
[[File:The most prolific countries in Central Asia – Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – specialize in physics and chemistry.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Cumulative total of articles by Central Asians between 2008 and 2013, by field of science. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 14.6]]

Kazakhstan is Central Asia's main trader in high-tech products. Kazakh imports nearly doubled between 2008 and 2013, from US$2.7{{spaces}}billion to US$5.1{{spaces}}billion. There has been a surge in imports of computers, electronics and telecommunications; these products represented an investment of US$744{{spaces}}million in 2008 and US$2.6{{spaces}}billion five years later. The growth in exports was more gradual – from US$2.3{{spaces}}billion to US$3.1{{spaces}}billion – and dominated by chemical products (other than pharmaceuticals), which represented two-thirds of exports in 2008 (US$1.5{{spaces}}billion) and 83% (US$2.6{{spaces}}billion) in 2013.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

=== International cooperation ===
The five Central Asian republics belong to several international bodies, including the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]], the [[Economic Cooperation Organization]] and the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]]. They are also members of the [[Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program|Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation]] (CAREC) Programme, which also includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Mongolia and Pakistan. In November 2011, the 10 member countries adopted the ''CAREC 2020 Strategy'', a blueprint for furthering regional co-operation. Over the decade to 2020, US$50{{spaces}}billion is being invested in priority projects in transport, trade and energy to improve members' competitiveness. The landlocked Central Asian republics are conscious of the need to co-operate in order to maintain and develop their transport networks and energy, communication and irrigation systems. Only Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan border the [[Caspian Sea]] and none of the republics has direct access to an ocean, complicating the transportation of hydrocarbons, in particular, to world markets.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Kazakhstan is also one of the three founding members of the [[Eurasian Economic Union]] in 2014, along with Belarus and the Russian Federation. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have since joined this body. As co-operation among the member states in science and technology is already considerable and well-codified in legal texts, the Eurasian Economic Union is expected to have a limited additional impact on co-operation among public laboratories or academia but it should encourage business ties and scientific mobility, since it includes provision for the free circulation of labour and unified patent regulations.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" /><ref>{{cite book|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf|title=Countries in the Black Sea basin. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030|last1=Erocal|first1=Deniz|last2=Yegorov|first2=Igor|publisher=UNESCO|year=2015|isbn=978-92-3-100129-1|location=Paris|pages=324–341|access-date=1 June 2017|archive-date=30 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630025557/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kazakhstan and Tajikistan participated in the Innovative Biotechnologies Programme (2011–2015) launched by the [[Eurasian Economic Community]], the predecessor of the [[Eurasian Economic Union]], The programme also involved Belarus and the Russian Federation. Within this programme, prizes were awarded at an annual bio-industry exhibition and conference. In 2012, 86 Russian organisations participated, plus three from Belarus, one from Kazakhstan and three from Tajikistan, as well as two scientific research groups from Germany. At the time, Vladimir Debabov, scientific director of the Genetika State Research Institute for Genetics and the Selection of Industrial Micro-organisms in the Russian Federation, stressed the paramount importance of developing bio-industry. "In the world today, there is a strong tendency to switch from petrochemicals to renewable biological sources", he said. "Biotechnology is developing two to three times faster than chemicals."<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Kazakhstan also participated in a second project of the Eurasian Economic Community, the establishment of the Centre for Innovative Technologies on 4 April 2013, with the signing of an agreement between the Russian Venture Company (a government fund of funds), the Kazakh JSC National Agency and the Belarusian Innovative Foundation. Each of the selected projects is entitled to funding of US$3–90{{spaces}}million and is implemented within a public–private partnership. The first few approved projects focused on supercomputers, space technologies, medicine, petroleum recycling, nanotechnologies and the ecological use of natural resources. Once these initial projects have spawned viable commercial products, the venture company plans to reinvest the profits in new projects. This venture company is not a purely economic structure; it has also been designed to promote a common economic space among the three participating countries.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" /> Kazakhstan recognises the role civil society initiatives have to address the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.<ref name="civil-soc">{{cite web|title=EU Central Asia Civil Society Forum: Making Our Partnerships Stronger|url=https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/87703/eu-central-asia-civil-society-forum-making-our-partnerships-stronger_en|website=EU External Action|access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129091614/https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-Homepage/87703/eu-central-asia-civil-society-forum-making-our-partnerships-stronger_en|url-status=live}}</ref>

Four of the five Central Asian republics have also been involved in a project launched by the [[European Union]] in September 2013, IncoNet CA. The aim of this project is to encourage [[European Union's scientific cooperation beyond the bloc|Central Asian countries to participate in research projects]] within [[Horizon 2020]], the European Union's eighth research and innovation funding programme. The focus of this research projects is on three societal challenges considered as being of mutual interest to both the European Union and Central Asia, namely: climate change, energy and health. IncoNet CA builds on the experience of earlier projects which involved other regions, such as Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans. IncoNet CA focuses on twinning research facilities in Central Asia and Europe. It involves a consortium of partner institutions from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. In May 2014, the European Union launched a 24-month call for project applications from twinned institutions – universities, companies and research institutes – for funding of up to €10, 000 to enable them to visit one another's facilities to discuss project ideas or prepare joint events like workshops.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

The [[International Science and Technology Center]] (ISTC) was established in 1992 by the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation and the US to engage weapons scientists in civilian research projects and to foster technology transfer. ISTC branches have been set up in the following countries party to the agreement: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The headquarters of ISTC were moved to Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan in June 2014, three years after the Russian Federation announced its withdrawal from the centre.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have been members of the [[World Trade Organization]] since 1998, 2013 and 2015 respectively.<ref name="Mukhitdinova-2015" />

== Territorial and regional data ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ececec;"
! scope="col" style="width:120px;" | [[Country]]
! scope="col" style="width:80px;" | [[List of countries by area|Area]]<br />km<sup>2</sup>
! scope="col" style="width:100px;" | [[List of countries by population|Population]]{{UN Population|ref}}<br />({{UN Population|Year}})
! scope="col" style="width:50px;" | [[List of countries by population density|Population density]]<br />per km<sup>2</sup>
! scope="col" style="width:100px;" | [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|Nominal GDP]] (2023)<br />
! [[GDP per capita]]<br /> (2023)
! [[HDI]] (2021)
! [[Capital (political)|Capital]]
! [[Official languages]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flag|Kazakhstan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2,724,900
| style="text-align:right;" | {{UN Population|Kazakhstan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 6.3
| style="text-align:right;" | $245.695{{spaces}}billion
| style="text-align:right;" | $12,306
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.811
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Astana]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Russian language|Russian]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flag|Kyrgyzstan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 199,950
| style="text-align:right;" | {{UN Population|Kyrgyzstan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 29.7
| style="text-align:right;" | $12.309{{spaces}}billion
| style="text-align:right;" | $1,736
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.692
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Bishkek]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]], [[Russian language|Russian]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flag|Tajikistan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 142,550
| style="text-align:right;" | {{UN Population|Tajikistan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 60.4
| style="text-align:right;" | $12.796{{spaces}}billion
| style="text-align:right;" | $1,277
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.685
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Dushanbe]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Tajik language|Tajik]], [[Russian language|Russian]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flag|Turkmenistan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 488,100
| style="text-align:right;" | {{UN Population|Turkmenistan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 11.1
| style="text-align:right;" | $82.624{{spaces}}billion
| style="text-align:right;" | $13,065
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.745
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Ashgabat]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]]
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | {{flag|Uzbekistan}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 448,978
| style="text-align:right;" | 36,024,900<ref>{{cite web|date=28 January 2023|title=Demographics of the Republic of Uzbekistan (January–December 2022)|url=https://stat.uz/uz/matbuot-markazi/qo-mita-yangiliklar/34140-demografik-holat-2022-yil-yanvar-sentabr-2|publisher=stat.uz|language=uz}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
| style="text-align:right;" | $92.332{{spaces}}billion
| style="text-align:right;" | $2,563
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.727
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Tashkent]]
| style="text-align:left;" | [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]]
|}

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Central Asia}}
[[File:Central Asia population pyramid 2023.svg|thumb|Population pyramid of Central Asia in 2023]]
[[File:Central Asia Ethnic en.svg|thumb|upright=1.75|Ethnic map of Central Asia.<br /> White areas are thinly-populated semi-desert.<br />The three northwest-tending lines are the Syr Darya and Amu Darya Rivers flowing from the eastern mountains into the Aral Sea and in the south the irrigated north side of the Kopet Dagh mountains.]]
[[File:Uzbek Kids.JPG|thumb|left|Uzbek children in [[Samarkand]]]]
[[File:Afghan children in Badakhshan Province-2012.jpg|thumb|Children in Afghanistan]]
By a broad definition including Mongolia and Afghanistan, more than 90 million people live in Central Asia, about 2% of Asia's total population. Of the regions of Asia, only [[North Asia]] has fewer people. It has a population density of 9 people per km<sup>2</sup>, vastly less than the 80.5 people per km<sup>2</sup> of the continent as a whole. Kazakhstan is one of the least densely populated countries in the world.

=== Languages ===
[[Russian language|Russian]], as well as being spoken by around six million ethnic [[Russians]] and [[Ukrainians]] of Central Asia,<ref>Robert Greenall, [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4420922.stm Russians left behind in Central Asia] , [[BBC News]], 23 November 2005.</ref> is the de facto [[lingua franca]] throughout the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. [[Mandarin Chinese]] has an equally dominant presence in [[Inner Mongolia]], [[Qinghai]] and [[Xinjiang]].

The languages of the majority of the inhabitants of the former Soviet Central Asian Republics belong to the [[Turkic languages|Turkic language group]]. [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]] is mainly spoken in [[Turkmenistan]], and as a minority language in [[Afghanistan]], [[Russia]], [[Iran]] and [[Turkey]]. [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] and [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]] are related languages of the [[Kipchaks|Kypchak]] group of Turkic languages and are spoken throughout [[Kazakhstan]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], and as a minority language in [[Tajikistan]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Xinjiang]]. [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]] and [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] are spoken in [[Uzbekistan]], [[Tajikistan]], Kyrgyzstan, [[Afghanistan]] and [[Xinjiang]].

[[Middle Iranian languages]] were once spoken throughout Central Asia, such as the once prominent [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]], [[Khwarezmian language|Khwarezmian]], [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] and [[Scythian language|Scythian]], which are now extinct and belonged to the [[Eastern Iranian]] family. The Eastern Iranian [[Pashto language]] is still spoken in [[Afghanistan]] and northwestern [[Pakistan]]. Other minor Eastern Iranian languages such as [[Shughni language|Shughni]], [[Munji language|Munji]], [[Ishkashimi language|Ishkashimi]], [[Sarikoli language|Sarikoli]], [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]], [[Yaghnobi language|Yaghnobi]] and [[Ossetic]] are also spoken at various places in Central Asia. Varieties of [[Persian language|Persian]] are also spoken as a major language in the region, locally known as [[Dari]] (in [[Afghanistan]]), [[Tajik language|Tajik]] (in [[Tajikistan]] and [[Uzbekistan]]), and [[Bukhori]] (by the [[Bukharan Jews]] of Central Asia).

[[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]], another [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language group]], which was once predominant in oases on the northern edge of the [[Tarim Basin]] of [[Xinjiang]], is now extinct.

Other language groups include the [[Tibetic languages]], spoken by around six million people across the [[Tibetan Plateau]] and into [[Qinghai]], [[Sichuan]] (Szechwan), [[Ladakh]] and [[Baltistan]], and the [[Nuristani languages]] of northeastern Afghanistan. [[Korean language|Korean]] is spoken by the [[Koryo-saram]] minority, mainly in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.<ref>Alekseenko, Aleksandr Nikolaevich (2000). Республика в зеркале переписей населения[Republic in the Mirror of the Population Censuses] (PDF). ''Population and Society: Newsletter of the Centre for Demography and Human Ecology'' (in Russian). Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences (47): 58–62. Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref>

=== Religions ===
{{Pie chart
| thumb = right
| caption = Religion in Central Asia
| label1 = [[Islam]]
| value1 = 87.78
| color1 = DarkGreen
| label2 = [[Christianity]]
| value2 = 7.29
| color2 = DodgerBlue
| label3 = [[Irreligion]]
| value3 = 6.44
| color3 = Grey
| label4 = [[Folk religion]]
| value4 = 0.8
| color4 = Red
| label5 = [[Buddhism]]
| value5 = 0.4
| color5 = Gold
| label6 = Others
| value6 = 0.21
| color6 = Black
| label7 = [[Judaism]]
| value7 = 0.02
| color7 = DarkBlue
}}
[[File:Bibi Khanym Mosque in Samarkand from north.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bibi Khanym Mosque]] in [[Uzbekistan]]]]
[[Islam in Central Asia|Islam]] is the religion most common in the Central Asian Republics, [[Afghanistan]], Xinjiang, and the peripheral western regions, such as [[Bashkortostan]]. Most Central Asian Muslims are [[Sunni]], although there are sizable [[Shia]] minorities in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Tajikistan]].

[[Buddhism in Central Asia|Buddhism]] and [[Zoroastrianism]] were the major faiths in Central Asia before the arrival of Islam. Zoroastrian influence is still felt today in such celebrations as [[Nowruz]], held in all five of the Central Asian states.<ref>Christoph Marcinkowski, ''Shi'ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts'' (Münster: LIT, 2010), 244. {{ISBN|9783643800497}}</ref> The [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|transmission of Buddhism along the Silk Road]] eventually brought the religion to China.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Buddhist Conquest of China: The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China|last=Zürcher|first=Erik|publisher=BRILL|year=2007|isbn=978-90-04-15604-3|pages=23}}</ref> Amongst the [[Turkic peoples]], [[Tengrism]] was the leading religion before Islam.<ref>Megan Rancier, ''Turkic Soundscapes: From Shamanic Voices to Hip-Hop'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 2018), 258. {{ISBN|9781351665957}}</ref> [[Tibetan Buddhism]] is most common in Tibet, Mongolia, [[Ladakh]], and the southern Russian regions of Siberia.

The form of [[Christianity]] most practiced in the region in previous centuries was [[Nestorianism]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Bosch|first=David|author-link=David Bosch|title=Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qEpf6wqHcGwC|year=1991|publisher=[[Orbis Books]]|isbn=978-1-60833-146-8|page=204|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> but now the largest denomination is the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], with many members in Kazakhstan, where about 25% of the population of 19 million identify as Christian, 17% in Uzbekistan and 5% in Kyrgyzstan. [[Pew Research Center]] estimates indicate that in 2010, around 6 million [[Christians]] lived in Central Asian countries, the Pew Forum study finds that Kazakhstan (4.1 million) has the largest Christian population in the region, followed by Uzbekistan (710,000), Kyrgyzstan (660,000), Turkmenistan (320,000) and Tajikistan (100,000).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|title=Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population|publisher=Pew Research Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801204254/https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf|archive-date=1 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Bukharan Jews]] were once a sizable community in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, but nearly all have emigrated since the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]].

In Siberia, [[shaministic]] practices persist, including forms of [[divination]] such as [[Kumalak]].

Contact and migration with [[Han people]] from China has brought [[Confucianism]], [[Daoism]], [[Mahayana Buddhism]], and other [[Chinese Folk Religion|Chinese folk beliefs]] into the region.

Central Asia is where many integral beliefs and elements in various religious traditions of [[Judaism]], Christianity, Islam, Buddhism.<ref name="Frankopan-2017" />

<table class="wikitable sortable">
<tr>
<th rowspan="2">Country</th>
<th rowspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Population</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Muslim</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Christian</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Irreligion</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Folk Religion</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Other Religion</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Buddhist</th>
<th colspan="2" data-sort-type="number">Jewish</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
<th>Pop.</th>
<th>%</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{{flag|Uzbekistan}}</td>
<td>27,440,000</td>
<td>26,534,480</td>
<td>96.70%</td>
<td>631,120</td>
<td>2.30%</td>
<td>219,520</td>
<td>0.80%</td>
<td>10,000</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>10,000</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>10,000</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>10,000</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{{flag|Tajikistan}}</td>
<td>6,880,000</td>
<td>6,652,960</td>
<td>96.70%</td>
<td>110,080</td>
<td>1.60%</td>
<td>103,200</td>
<td>1.50%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{{flag|Turkmenistan}}</td>
<td>5,040,000</td>
<td>4,687,200</td>
<td>93.00%</td>
<td>322,560</td>
<td>6.40%</td>
<td>25,200</td>
<td>0.50%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>&lt;0.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{{flag|Kyrgyzstan}}</td>
<td>6,520,000</td>
<td>5,868,000</td>
<td>90.00%</td>
<td>521,600</td>
<td>8.00%</td>
<td>130,400</td>
<td>2.00%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0.00%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0.00%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0.00%</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0.00%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>{{flag|Kazakhstan}}</td>
<td>18,745,000</td>
<td>12,990,285</td>
<td>69.30%</td>
<td>3,130,415</td>
<td>16.70%</td>
<td>2,493,085</td>
<td>13.30%</td>
<td>20,620</td>
<td>0.10%</td>
<td>18,745</td>
<td>0.10%</td>
<td>16,870</td>
<td>0.10%</td>
<td>3,400</td>
<td>0.02%</td>
</tr>
<tr style="background:#D7EEF4">
<td><strong>Total</strong></td>
<td><strong>64,625,000</strong></td>
<td><strong>55,535,690</strong></td>
<td><strong>85.94%</strong></td>
<td><strong>4,663,615</strong></td>
<td><strong>7.22%</strong></td>
<td><strong>4,158,860</strong></td>
<td><strong>6.44%</strong></td>
<td><strong>51,370</strong></td>
<td><strong>0.08%</strong></td>
<td><strong>136,105</strong></td>
<td><strong>0.21%</strong></td>
<td><strong>26,870</strong></td>
<td><strong>0.04%</strong></td>
<td><strong>10,000</strong></td>
<td><strong>0.02%</strong></td>
</tr></table>

== Geostrategy ==
{{Main|Geostrategy in Central Asia}}
[[File:Qianlong Horse.jpg|thumb|Tartar prostrating before [[Qianlong Emperor]] of China (1757).<ref>{{citation|first=James A.|last=Millward|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-231-13924-3|title=Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC|pages=45–47|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131015/https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
[[File:Great Game cartoon from 1878.jpg|thumb|Political cartoon from the period of the [[The Great Game|Great Game]] showing the Afghan Amir Sher Ali with his "friends" Imperial Russia and the United Kingdom (1878)]]
[[File:Islam karimov.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Islam Karimov]] (President, Uzbekistan) in [[the Pentagon]], March 2002]]

Central Asia has long been a strategic location merely because of its proximity to several great powers on the Eurasian landmass. The region itself never held a dominant stationary population nor was able to make use of natural resources. Thus, it has rarely throughout history become the seat of power for an empire or influential state. Central Asia has been divided, redivided, conquered out of existence, and fragmented time and time again. Central Asia has served more as the battleground for outside powers than as a power in its own right.

Central Asia had both the advantage and disadvantage of a central location between four historical seats of power. From its central location, it has access to trade routes to and from all the regional powers. On the other hand, it has been continuously vulnerable to attack from all sides throughout its history, resulting in political fragmentation or outright power vacuum, as it is successively dominated.
* To the North, the steppe allowed for rapid mobility, first for nomadic horseback warriors like the Huns and Mongols, and later for Russian traders, eventually supported by railroads. As the Russian Empire expanded to the East, it would also push down into Central Asia towards the sea, in a search for warm water ports. The Soviet bloc would reinforce dominance from the North and attempt to project power as far south as Afghanistan.
* To the East, the demographic and cultural weight of Chinese empires continually pushed outward into Central Asia since the [[Silk Road]] period of [[Han dynasty]]. However, with the Sino-Soviet split and collapse of Soviet Union, China would project its soft power into Central Asia, most notably in the case of Afghanistan, to counter Russian dominance of the region.
* To the Southeast, the demographic and cultural influence of India was felt in Central Asia, notably in Tibet, the [[Hindu Kush]], and slightly beyond. From its base in India, the [[British Empire]] competed with the Russian Empire for influence in the region in the 19th and 20th centuries.
* To the Southwest, West Asian powers have expanded into the southern areas of Central Asia (usually Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan). Several Persian empires would conquer and reconquer parts of Central Asia; Alexander the Great's Hellenic empire would extend into Central Asia; two Islamic empires would exert substantial influence throughout the region;<ref name="iranpress.com">{{Cite web|title=No one is happy about US military presence in Central Asia|url=https://iranpress.com/content/48774/one-happy-about-military-presence-central-asia|access-date=13 October 2021|website=iranpress.com|language=en|archive-date=17 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017005344/https://iranpress.com/content/48774/one-happy-about-military-presence-central-asia|url-status=live}}</ref> and the modern state of Iran has projected influence throughout the region as well. Turkey, through a common [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] nation identity, has gradually increased its ties and influence as well in the region. Furthermore, since Uzbekistan announced their intention to join in April 2018, Turkey and all of the Central Asian Turkic-speaking states except Turkmenistan are together part of the [[Turkic Council]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Uzbekistan decides to join 'Turkic alliance' during Erdogan's visit – Turkey News|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/uzbekistan-decides-to-join-turkic-alliance-during-erdogans-visit-131109|access-date=6 October 2021|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=30 April 2018|language=en|archive-date=6 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006112831/https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/uzbekistan-decides-to-join-turkic-alliance-during-erdogans-visit-131109|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the post–Cold War era, Central Asia is an ethnic cauldron, prone to instability and conflicts, without a sense of national identity, but rather a mess of historical cultural influences, tribal and clan loyalties, and religious fervor. Projecting influence into the area is no longer just Russia, but also Turkey, Iran, China, Pakistan, India and the United States:
* Russia continues to dominate political decision-making throughout the former SSRs; although, as other countries move into the area, Russia's influence has begun to wane though Russia still maintains military bases in [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[Tajikistan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Why Russia Will Send More Troops to Central Asia|url=https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/why-russia-will-send-more-troops-central-asia|website=Stratfor|access-date=26 September 2015|archive-date=27 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927163915/https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/why-russia-will-send-more-troops-central-asia|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The United States, with its military involvement in the region and oil diplomacy, is also significantly involved in the region's politics.<ref name="iranpress.com" /> The United States and other NATO members were the main contributors to the [[International Security Assistance Force]] in Afghanistan during the [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan|Islamic Republic]] period and also exert considerable influence in other Central Asian nations.
* China has security ties with Central Asian states through the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]], and conducts energy trade bilaterally.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/10883/shanghai_cooperation_organization.html|title=The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation|first=Andrew|last=Scheineson|date=24 March 2009|access-date=24 September 2010|work=Backgrounder|publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008081727/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10883/shanghai_cooperation_organization.html|archive-date=8 October 2010}}</ref>
* India has geographic proximity to the Central Asian region and, in addition, enjoys considerable influence on Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7492982.stm|title=India: Afghanistan's influential ally|access-date=14 November 2014|publisher=BBC News|date=8 October 2009|archive-date=29 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129011825/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7492982.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945666,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208010925/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945666,00.html|archive-date=8 December 2009|title=India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanistan|date=5 December 2009|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=14 November 2014}}</ref> India maintains a military base at [[Farkhor Air Base|Farkhor]], Tajikistan, and also has extensive military relations with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.<ref name="Reiter">{{cite book|last1=Reiter|first1=Erich|last2=Hazdra|first2=Peter|title=The Impact of Asian Powers on Global Developments|year=2004|publisher=Springer, 2004|isbn=978-3-7908-0092-0}}</ref>[[File:SCO meeting (2022-09-16).jpg|thumb|Leaders present at the [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation|SCO]] summit in [[Samarkand]], Uzbekistan, in 2022 ]]
* Turkey also exerts considerable influence in the region on account of its ethnic and linguistic ties with the Turkic peoples of Central Asia and its involvement in the [[Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline]]. Political and economic relations are growing rapidly (e.g., Turkey recently eliminated visa requirements for citizens of the Central Asian Turkic republics).
* Iran, the seat of historical empires that controlled parts of Central Asia, has historical and cultural links to the region and is vying to construct an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf.
* [[Pakistan]], a nuclear-armed Islamic state, has a history of political relations with neighbouring Afghanistan and is termed capable of exercising influence. For some Central Asian nations, the shortest route to the ocean lies through Pakistan. Pakistan seeks [[natural gas]] from Central Asia and supports the development of pipelines from its countries. According to an independent study, [[Turkmenistan]] is supposed to be the fifth largest natural gas field in the world.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Turkmenistan Gas Field Is One of World's Largest|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122409510811337137|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|access-date=26 September 2015|issn=0099-9660|first=Guy|last=Chazan|archive-date=28 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428142524/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122409510811337137|url-status=live}}</ref> The mountain ranges and areas in northern Pakistan lie on the fringes of [[Greater Central Asia]]; the [[Gilgit–Baltistan]] region of Pakistan lies adjacent to Tajikistan, separated only by the narrow Afghan [[Wakhan Corridor]]. Being located on the northwest of South Asia, the area forming modern-day Pakistan maintained extensive historical and cultural links with the central Asian region.
* Japan has an important and growing influence in Central Asia, with the master plan of the capital city of Astana in Kazakhstan being designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, and the [[Central Asia plus Japan]] initiative designed to strengthen ties between them and promote development and stability of the region.

Russian historian [[Lev Gumilev]] wrote that [[Xiongnu]], [[Mongols]] ([[Mongol Empire]], [[Zunghar Khanate]]) and [[Turkic peoples]] ([[First Turkic Khaganate]], [[Uyghur Khaganate]]) played a role to stop Chinese [[List of endangered languages in China|aggression]] [[Ethnic groups in Chinese history|to the north]]. The Turkic Khaganate had special policy against Chinese assimilation policy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/articles/Article16.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130407040942/http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/articles/Article16.htm|title=Л.Н. Гумилев. Люди и природа Великой степи|archive-date=7 April 2013|website=gumilevica.kulichki.net}}</ref>

The region, along with Russia, is also part of "the great pivot" as per the [[Heartland Theory]] of [[Halford Mackinder]], which says that the power which controls Central Asia—richly endowed with natural resources—shall ultimately be the "empire of the world". For example, the region is endowed with various mineral resources such as [[chromium]], [[cobalt]], [[zinc]], [[copper]], [[silver]], [[lithium]], [[lead]], [[molybdenum]] and many others making it a potential major global supplier of critical materials for clean energy technologies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vakulchuk|first1=Roman|last2=Overland|first2=Indra|date=December 2021|title=Central Asia is a missing link in analyses of critical materials for the global clean energy transition|journal=One Earth|volume=4|issue=12|pages=1678–1692|doi=10.1016/j.oneear.2021.11.012|bibcode=2021OEart...4.1678V|issn=2590-3322|hdl=11250/2839043|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

== Major cultural, scientific and economic centres ==
=== Cities in Central Asia ===
{{Largest cities
| country = Central Asia
| stat_ref =<ref>{{cite web|url=https://stat.uz/ru/ofitsialnaya-statistika/demografiya-i-trud/demograficheskie-pokazateli/2400-chislennost-gorodskogo-i-selskogo-naseleniya-po-regionam-na-nachalo-goda-tysyach-chelovek|title=Численность городского и сельского населения по регионам|publisher=The State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107103107/https://stat.uz/ru/ofitsialnaya-statistika/demografiya-i-trud/demograficheskie-pokazateli/2400-chislennost-gorodskogo-i-selskogo-naseleniya-po-regionam-na-nachalo-goda-tysyach-chelovek|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.gov.uz/ru/datasets/4967|title=Административно-территориальное деление Наманганской области|publisher=Портал открытых данных Республики Узбекистан|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=21 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421125517/https://data.gov.uz/ru/datasets/4967}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://samarkand.uz/towns_districts/samarkand|title=Самарқанд шаҳри|publisher=samarkand.uz|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923054153/https://samarkand.uz/towns_districts/samarkand|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geonames.org/KZ/largest-cities-in-kazakhstan.html|title=Biggest Cities Kazakhstan|access-date=7 December 2021|archive-date=3 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103164504/http://www.geonames.org/KZ/largest-cities-in-kazakhstan.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geonames.org/KG/largest-cities-in-kyrgyzstan.html|title=Biggest Cities Kyrgyzstan|access-date=7 December 2021|archive-date=10 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510214511/http://www.geonames.org/KG/largest-cities-in-kyrgyzstan.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geonames.org/TJ/largest-cities-in-tajikistan.html|title=Biggest Cities Tajikistan|access-date=7 December 2021|archive-date=27 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727185830/http://www.geonames.org/TJ/largest-cities-in-tajikistan.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geonames.org/TM/largest-cities-in-turkmenistan.html|title=Biggest Cities Turkmenistan|access-date=7 December 2021|archive-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728013401/http://www.geonames.org/TM/largest-cities-in-turkmenistan.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| list_by_pop = <!-- link to the list of cities in the given country, if possible sorted by population -->
| div_name = Country
| div_link = <!-- the template will automatically create a link for "div_name of country" (e.g. Provinces of Chile), if this doesn't work you can use this field -->

| city_1 = Tashkent| div_1 = Uzbekistan| pop_1 = 3,000,000
| city_2 = Almaty| div_2 = Kazakhstan| pop_2 = 2,156,749
| city_3 = Astana| div_3 = Kazakhstan| pop_3 = 1,350,228
| city_4 = Shymkent| div_4 = Kazakhstan| pop_4 = 1,189,209
| city_5 = Bishkek| div_5 = Kyrgyzstan| pop_5 = 1,074,075
| city_6 = Ashgabat| div_6 = Turkmenistan| pop_6 = 727,000
| city_7 = Dushanbe| div_7 = Tajikistan| pop_7 = 679,400
| city_8 = Namangan| div_8 = Uzbekistan| pop_8 = 597,000
| city_9 = Aktobe| div_9 = Kazakhstan| pop_9 = 560,820
| city_10 = Samarkand| div_10 = Uzbekistan| pop_10 = 530,000

}}
{{Fix|text=Population figures disagree between the table above and the table below.}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! style="width:80px;" | City
! style="width:90px;" | Country
! style="width:60px;" | Population
! style="width:200px;" class=unsortable|Image
! class=unsortable|Information
|-
| [[Astana]]
| Kazakhstan
| {{nts|1,006,574}}<br />(2017)
| [[File:Байтерек - panoramio.jpg|200x200px]]
| The capital and second largest city in Kazakhstan. After Kazakhstan gained its independence in 1991, the city and the region were renamed from Tselinograd to Aqmola. The name was often translated as "White Tombstone", but actually means "Holy Place" or "Holy Shrine". The "White Tombstone" literal translation was too appropriate for many visitors to escape notice in almost all guide books and travel accounts. In 1994, the city was designated as the future capital of the newly independent country and again renamed to the Astana after the capital was officially moved from [[Almaty]] in 1997. In 2019 the city was renamed to Nur-Sultan to honor the resigned president, but was reverted to Astana in 2022.
|-
| [[Almaty]]
| Kazakhstan
| {{nts|1,713,220}}<br />(2017)
| [[File:Almaty, Kok-tobe exposition (edit).jpg|200px]]
| It was the capital of Kazakhstan (and its predecessor, the [[Kazakh SSR]]) from 1929 to 1998. Despite losing its status as the capital, Almaty remains the major commercial center of Kazakhstan. It is a recognised financial center of Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region.
|-
| [[Bishkek]]
| Kyrgyzstan
| {{nts|1,027,200}}<br />(2019)
| 
| The capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative center of [[Chüy Region]], which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the region, but rather a region-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
|-
| [[Osh]]
| Kyrgyzstan
| {{nts|243,216}}<br />(2009)
| [[File:Osh 03-2016 img27 view from Sulayman Mountain.jpg|200px]]
| The second largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Osh is also the administrative center of [[Osh Region]], which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the region, but rather a region-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
|-
| [[Dushanbe]]
| Tajikistan
| {{nts|780,000}}<br />(2014)
| [[File:Palace of Nations and the Flagpole, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.JPG|200px]]
| The capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in [[Tajik language|Tajik]] and [[Persian language|Persian]],<ref>D. Saimaddinov, S. D. Kholmatova, and S. Karimov, ''Tajik-Russian Dictionary'', Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature, Scientific Center for Persian-Tajik Culture, Dushanbe, 2006.</ref> and the name reflects the fact that the city grew on the site of a village that originally was a popular Monday [[marketplace]].
|-
| [[Ashgabat]]
| Turkmenistan
| {{nts|1,032,000}}<br />(2014)
| [[File:Neutrality-Road-Ashgabat-2015.JPG|200px]]
| The capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. Ashgabat is a relatively young city, growing out of a village of the same name established by [[Russian Empire|Russians]] in 1818. It is not far from the site of [[Nisa (village)|Nisa]], the ancient capital of the [[Parthia]]ns, and it grew on the ruins of the [[Silk Road]] city of Konjikala, which was first mentioned as a wine-producing village in the 2nd century BC and was leveled by an earthquake in the 1st century BC (a precursor of the [[1948 Ashgabat earthquake]]). Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road, and it flourished until its destruction by Mongols in the 13th century AD. After that, it survived as a small village until the Russians took over in the 19th century.<ref>[http://www.geographicbureau.com/trips/central_asia/turkmenistan/info/brief_description_of_the_main_s.jdx Konjikala] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029043151/http://www.geographicbureau.com/trips/central_asia/turkmenistan/info/brief_description_of_the_main_s.jdx |date=29 October 2014 }}: the Silk Road precursor of Ashgabat</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UGanxmJgQNIC&pg=PA40 Konjikala] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131044/https://books.google.com/books?id=UGanxmJgQNIC&pg=PA40 |date=10 April 2023 }}, in: MaryLee Knowlton, ''Turkmenistan'', Marshall Cavendish, 2006, pp. 40–41, {{ISBN|0-7614-2014-2}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7614-2014-9}}.</ref>
|-
| [[Bukhara]]
| Uzbekistan
| {{nts|237,900}}<br />(1999)
| [[File:2012 Bukhara 7515821196.jpg|200px]]
| The nation's fifth-largest city and the capital of the [[Bukhara Region]] of Uzbekistan. Bukhara has been one of the main centers of Persian civilisation from its early days in the 6th century BC, and, since the 12th century AD, Turkic speakers gradually moved in. Its architecture and archaeological sites form one of the pillars of Central Asian history and art.
|-
| [[Kokand]]
| Uzbekistan
| {{nts|209,389}}<br />(2011)
| [[File:KokandPalace.jpg|200px]]
| Kokand ({{lang-uz-Latn-Cyrl|Qo'qon|Қўқон}}; {{langx|tg|Хӯқанд}}; {{langx|fa|خوقند}}; [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]]: خوقند; {{langx|ru|Коканд}}) is a city in [[Fergana Region]] in eastern [[Uzbekistan]], at the southwestern edge of the [[Fergana Valley]]. It has a population of 192,500 (1999 census estimate). Kokand is 228{{spaces}}km southeast of [[Tashkent]], 115{{spaces}}km west of [[Andijan]], and 88{{spaces}}km west of [[Fergana]]. It is nicknamed "City of Winds", or sometimes "Town of the Boar".
|-
| [[Samarkand]]
| Uzbekistan
| {{nts|596,300}}<br />(2008)
| [[File:Samarkand view from the top.jpg|200px]]
| The second largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of [[Samarqand Region]]. The city is most noted for its central position on the [[Silk Road]] between [[China]] and the West, and for being an Islamic center for scholarly study. It was here that the ruler [[Ulugh Beg]] (1394–1449) built a gigantic astronomical observatory.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ehgamberdiev|first=Shuhrat|date=January 2009|title=Ulugh Beg: the scholar on the throne|url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001791/179113e.pdf|journal=A World of Science|volume=7|issue=1|pages=21–23|access-date=1 June 2017|archive-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011101431/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001791/179113e.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Tashkent]]
| Uzbekistan
| {{nts|2,571,668}}<br />(2020)
|[[File:Nest_One_Tashkent.jpg|200px]]
| The capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, the town and the region were known as Chach. Tashkent started as an [[oasis]] on the [[Chirchik River]], near the foothills of the [[Golestan]] Mountains. In ancient times, this area contained Beitian, probably the summer "capital" of the [[Kangju]] confederacy.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pulleyblank|first=Edwin G|year=1963|title=The consonantal system of Old Chinese|journal=Asia Major|volume=9|page=94}}</ref>
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Geography|Asia}}
* [[Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program]]
* [[Central Asian Football Federation]]
* [[Central Asian Games]]
* [[Central Asian Union]]
* [[Central Asians in ancient Indian literature]]
* [[Western Regions|Chinese Central Asia]]
* [[Chinese Turkestan]]
* [[Pole of inaccessibility#Eurasia|Continental pole of inaccessibility]]
* [[Hindutash]]
* [[Inner Asia]]
* [[Mountains of Central Asia]]
* [[Russian Turkestan]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Free-content attribution
| title = UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030
| author = UNESCO
| publisher = UNESCO Publishing
| page numbers = 365–387
| source =
| documentURL = http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf
| license statement URL =
| license = CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Blank|first=Stephen J.|title=Central Asia After 2014|year=2013|publisher=Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press|isbn=978-1-58487-593-2|url=https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo44943}}
* Chow, Edward. "Central Asia's Pipelines: Field of Dreams and Reality", in ''[http://www.nbr.org/publications/element.aspx?id=456 Pipeline Politics in Asia: The Intersection of Demand, Energy Markets, and Supply Routes]''. [[National Bureau of Asian Research]], 2010.
* Farah, Paolo Davide, Energy Security, Water Resources and Economic Development in Central Asia, World Scientific Reference on Globalisation in Eurasia and the Pacific Rim, Imperial College Press (London, UK) & World Scientific Publishing, November 2015. Available at SSRN: [http://ssrn.com/abstract=2701215 Energy Security, Water Resources and Economic Development in Central Asia]
* Dani, A.H. and V.M. Masson, eds. ''[http://www.unesco.org/culture/asia/index-en.html History of Civilizations of Central Asia]''. Paris: [[UNESCO]], 1992.* Gorshunova. Olga V. ''Svjashennye derevja Khodzhi Barora...'', (''Sacred Trees of Khodzhi Baror: Phytolatry and the Cult of Female Deity in Central Asia'') in Etnoragraficheskoe Obozrenie, 2008, n° 1, pp.{{spaces}}71–82. {{ISSN|0869-5415}}. {{in lang|ru}}.
* {{cite journal|last1=Klein|first1=I.|last2=Gessner|first2=U.|last3=Kuenzer|year=2012|title=Regional land cover mapping and change detection in Central Asia using MODIS time-series|journal=Applied Geography|volume=35|issue=1–2|pages=219–234|doi=10.1016/j.apgeog.2012.06.016|bibcode=2012AppGe..35..219K}}
* {{cite book|last1=Luong|first1=Pauline Jones|title=The Transformation of Central Asia: States and Societies from Soviet Rule to Independence|date=2004|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-8842-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KefvEz9bfyEC}}
* [[Mandelbaum, Michael]], ed. ''Central Asia and the World: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan''. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Council on Foreign Relations]] Press, 1994.
* Marcinkowski, M. Ismail. ''Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Pakistan and Early Ottoman Turkey''. [[Singapore]]: [[Pustaka Nasional]], 2003.
* Menga, Filippo (2020). [https://www.routledge.com/Power-and-Water-in-Central-Asia/Menga/p/book/9780367667351 Power and Water in Central Asia]. Routledge. {{ISBN|9780367667351}}
* [[Martha Brill Olcott|Olcott, Martha Brill]]. ''Central Asia's New States: Independence, Foreign policy, and Regional security''. [[Washington, D.C.]]: [[United States Institute of Peace Press]], 1996.
* {{Cite journal|year=2013|last1=Phillips|first1=Andrew|last2=James|first2=Paul|author-link2=Paul James (academic)|title=National Identity between Tradition and Reflexive Modernisation: The Contradictions of Central Asia|url=https://www.academia.edu/2832538|journal=National Identities|volume=3|issue=1|pages=23–35|doi=10.1080/14608940020028475|s2cid=146570543}}
* Hasan Bulent Paksoy. ''ALPAMYSH: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule''. [[Hartford]]: [[AACAR]], 1989. [http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/paksoy-1/ alpamysh: central asian identity under Russian rule]
* [[Svat Soucek|Soucek, Svatopluk]]. ''A History of Inner Asia''. [[Cambridge]]: [[Cambridge University Press]], 2000.
* [[Ted Rall|Rall, Ted]]. ''Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?'' New York: [[NBM Publishing]], 2006.
* Stone, L.A. ''The International Politics of Central Eurasia'' (272 pp). Central Eurasian Studies On Line: Accessible via the Web Page of the International Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research: [https://web.archive.org/web/20071103154944/http://www.iicas.org/forumen.htm IEI_forum / International Eurasian Institute for Economic and Political Research]
* Trochev, Alexei; Slade, Gavin (2019), in Caron, Jean-François (ed.), [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-6693-2_5 "Trials and Tribulations: Kazakhstan's Criminal Justice Reforms"], ''Kazakhstan and the Soviet Legacy'', Singapore: Springer Singapore, pp.{{spaces}}75–99, {{ISBN|978-981-13-6692-5}}, retrieved 4 December 2020.
* Vakulchuk, Roman (2014) Kazakhstan's Emerging Economy: Between State and Market, Peter Lang: Frankfurt/Main. Available at: www.researchgate.net/publication/299731455
* Weston, David. [http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/asia.htm ''Teaching about Inner Asia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403065456/http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/asia.htm |date=3 April 2008 }}, Bloomington, Indiana: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies, 1989.
* Yellinek, Roie, [https://www.e-ir.info/2020/02/14/opinion-the-impact-of-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-on-central-asia-and-the-south-caucasus/ The Impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative on Central Asia and the South Caucasus], E-International Relations, 14 February 2020.

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|voy=Central Asia}}
* {{Iranica|central-asia-index}}
* [https://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml Central Asia ethnicity, languages, and religious composition maps] at [[Columbia University]]
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11743/ General Map of Central Asia I – World Digital Library] a historic map from 1874
* [https://thecentralasianchronicles.asia/ The Central Asian Chronicles]

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